The Firewatcher's Daughter
by WordyAF
Summary: Skittery questions everything and pushes everyone because rules are more like guidelines, anyway. That's how it was until he met Elvie, whose rules are all that keep her going for her siblings. Will Skittery teach Elvie how to live in the world again or will it be her that teaches him about trust without question? Benjamin Hotel fic.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

She would never forget the boy with blue eyes who watched her that day. He'd hung around the apartment all day, sending small smiles when she caught him looking that she returned eagerly. Since her mother's death the year before, the only time people talked to her or even looked at her was when they wanted something. Her father wanted money from the lace and weaving that her mother left her to take care of, her five younger brothers and sisters wanted food and comfort and mended pants and pinafores and her customers wanted top quality at the same pace that she and her mother used to turn out at working together. It was nice to have a little attention all to herself. She left the little ones at home to run a package of lace to a dress shop near Gramercy Park and felt him following her. When she stepped out with her hands empty but her pockets full, he was waiting.

"Can I walk you home?" he asked quietly, his blue eyes glowing like moonstones out of the lovely bronze of his face. They didn't look like they belonged there, but they were beautiful nonetheless. She nodded shyly and he held out his elbow like a gentleman. When her hand touched his shirtsleeve, her face seemed to burst into flames. She wasn't sure if there was a drop of blood left anywhere in her body besides her cheeks. They walked arm in arm, chit chating and small talking their way back to the Lower East. His name was Tomás and he worked at a pencil factory, but had the day off. He took her to a fancy drugstore that had soda water where they would normally mix tonics, but the man behind the counter mixed the soda water with cream and ginger syrup and left out the medicine. She'd never seen anything so lovely and frothy. Tomás put two straws in the tall glass and helped her drink it. Their lips almost touched! When they were done, he checked his pocket watch and frowned. " _Pollas en vinagre,_ I need to get you back. _Los siento, chiquita_ ," but he still held out his elbow. She took it, thinking he must have some sort of pressing errand to take care of and walked back towards Hester street, but turned too soon to be going to her apartment on Ludlow. The farther off course they got, the more nervous she got. She was from the slums, she understood what happened to girls who went off into dark alleys with strange boys, but he didn't seem like that type. Her heart was pounding when he banged his fist against the boarded up door of a burnt out factory in Lower Manhattan.

"Please, don't do this," she said in a weak whisper. "My brothers and sisters need someone..."

"This is where I was paid to bring you, _Chiquita_ ," he said stonily as the door opened. She was still trying to get an answer from Tomas when the cloth filled hand covered her mouth, filling her nose with a acrid scent. It made her mouth water till she drooled. Her nose ran and her eyes teared as her body did everything possible to rid itself of the numbing liquid the cloth was soaked with. The sun went dim and blurry as she fought to break free from the strong arms that held her still and dragged her into the dark factory. The last thing she saw before she gave into the fog was the boy with eyes like moonstones' back as he walked out the door, leaving without her.

Her father's voice calling her name pulled her back out of the fog. "Open your eyes, baby," he cooed. For about five seconds she sighed in relief, she must have fallen asleep finishing her work. She often worked into the night trying to finish all the orders, she must have fallen asleep on the front arm of the loom. But he was still calling her and she couldn't move her arms. They were tied. She struggled and fought, both against the ties around her wrists and the ten pound weights that seemed to be holding down her eyelids. "Elvie, show me you're awright," he insisted.

Finally her eyes opened. Her head was resting on her forearms and she lifted it towards the sound of his voice. "Pop?" she croaked. He was sitting on a chair, his hands tied behind his back and his ankles tied to the chair legs. The room was dark except the part they were in. The one exposed bulb above their heads swung a bit, shedding light on the singed brick walls. "Where is this?"

"Last chance, Gamble," a voice said from behind her. He stayed in the shadows, too far behind for her to see no mater how hard she twisted. "Pay up or we start taking it out of sweet Elvie's fingers. I sure hope you run out of excuses before she runs out of fingers."

"I don't have anything for you!" Pop cried. "I'm down on my luck! I been trying to find work to get you your money, but I ain't found nothing! Please, don't hurt her hands! Mae trained her, her hands is the only thing keeping the kids fed. She's the only hope you have of getting your money."

The faceless voice paused, mulling over what her father said. Pop stared at his lap in shame, refusing to look at her. "Gamble, Gamble, Gamble, what are we going to do with you? You think that just because it's your name you're always going to have a winning hand? How many times are we going to have to learn this lesson? Didn't Mae's passing teach you anything? She held on so long waiting for you to scrape the money together." A sob shuddered out of Elvie's throat as the truth about her mother's death came into the open for the first time. Her father told her that her mother was jumped and died from the injuries, but she didn't. She died in another abandoned building being tortured by the man who paid the blue eyed boy to lead her here. "If you didn't learn from Mae's passing, then you're not going to learn from a few yanked off fingernails or busted knee caps. We're going to have to give you the remedial course on paying your debts so that maybe you wont get yourself into these messes next time."

Her father's eyes went wide and he shook his head frantically. "No, please! Not that. She's just a kid! She's twelve years old!"

Her whole body waited tensely as she waited for whatever was to come. "Twelve years old, twelve lashes. One for each year, so that maybe your father will remember to take your life a little more seriously." The whip whistled as the tip flew through the air, and as the crack hit her ears the first lash licked her skin. Her dress and her skin split and her breath sucked in so hard that it grated her throat raw and stuck in her lungs. "Think about this the next time you take out a loan with me, Rob." The whip flew again, the small tassel of chains jingling, kissing the nape of her neck as she writhed and she felt blood ooze down her shoulders.

The whistle of the flying rope going in for a third strike sent her into a panic. "Wait!" she cried, throwing her head back. The snap sounded and the pain was nothing to the other two lashes as it wrapped over over the crown of her head and onto her face. She collapsed, whimpering, unable to breathe. Her eye wouldn't open, but all she could think about was stopping any further lashes. "Mmmmmoney in my p-p-p-pocket," she whimpered. "Take it. Just please, no more."

Someone roughly dug into her pocket and pulled out the fifty dollars she was paid for the bolt of silk she delivered. "Now you're only twenty five short, Gamble. What do you say, Elvie? You got anymore treasure troves?"

"C-cracker tin, behind the coffee in our kitchen. Please."

"Elvie, that's your money. That's for your supplies! I didn't touch it when your mother was alive and I ain't touching it now!"

"Maybe I would still have a mother if you had!" she screamed roughly. "Family first! Always. That's what she said! Family before work or play."

A harsh laugh rolled out like a crack of thunder. "Smart little thing you've got there, Rob. Must take after Mae. Nine more lashes and then Hollister will take you home to find your cracker tin." Heavy footsteps approached and a hand wrapped around the back of her neck, pressing in on the already open, oozing skin. "I hope, for your sake, that you're as smart as I'm giving you credit for, Elvie. If you're lying to me like your father does, I will find much worse things for you than that whip. Do you understand?" She nodded and whimpered and he let her go. "Nine lashes, and Hollister, try to keep it to her back. We want to teach a lesson not disfigure her." She sank into an oblivion of pain as the remainder of the lashes flew. Her mother was strong enough to take this and so was she. Even if her father was weak.

 _A/N: Hey! So, I know I said I didn't have anything new in the works when I ended **My Perfect Disaster**...and I didn't then, but when I was writing Trout's little girl Rosie and Skittery interacting during **Return To Brooklyn** , and he just stuck around in my head. So, his story will be a companion to **Joker is Poker with a J's Benjamin Hotel Series**. I'm very lucky to have such a talented friend who let me use her beautiful hotel and her sexy, Spanish skip trace. If you read my stories or Joker's you recognize that blue eyed boy already, and I'm ecstatic to have a second chance to use "pollas en vinagre," because of him. Please comment, pretty please, I love interacting with the community and knowing what you think. All comments/follows/favorites are so encouraging!_


	2. Chapter 2

David Jacobs wasn't know for being an angry person. Strict? Definitely. A bit bitter and a complete hard ass when it came to the two loves of his life, The Benjamin Hotel and Russian ballerina, Nina Teleshova (well, Nina Jacobs as of three weeks ago)? Always, but never angry. All of the grown up newsboys who now worked at the Ben wondered if maybe David's honeymoon and having someone, an actual someone, not a hotel with a human name, to keep him occupied might mellow the young hotelier out, but no. Judging by the volume of David's voice as Skittery sat down on the steps outside of the hotel's kitchen door, he was very, very much not mellowed. The curly headed twenty two year old sniggered to himself as he settled in to listen to Blink try calm David down from not only firing Skits, but blacklisting him from every high end hotel and restaurant in Manahattan. Who knew that one little prank could push Mouth so far?

Skittery wasn't the things people said either. He wasn't a pessimistic asshole. He just liked to understand things on a deeper level than most. If something was presented to him as fact, he would question it, just to see if the presenter knew what they were talking about. If rules were laid down at his job, he wanted to know exactly, within a hair's breadth, how far he could push them. He questioned everything and pushed everyone. Rules were more like guidelines and he needed to know what the real boundaries were. He wanted to know exactly where the boss's snapping point was. Blink understood that, which was how Skittery managed held onto his job in the restaurant at the prestigious Benjamin Hotel as long as he had. Davey was just way too much fun to play with, because as much as he demanded excellence, he had a secret soft spot for his old friends, and Skittery exploited it mercilessly.

The truth was, as Blink was explaining just on the other side of the door, when David was not at the hotel, Skittery was a model employee. Skits lit a cigarette and sat down to listen to the show unfold, only passingly nervous that he might have finally pushed David too far. In David's absence, he was professional, charming and "down right dapper," Blink told the fuming owner as Skittery blew out a series of smoke rings. It was only when he knew that David was sure to walk through the restaurant, that Skittery was sure to look like he'd slept in his clothes and come to work without consulting a mirror. His shirttails were always out, his hair a mess. If he was really trying to get a rise out of Dave, he'd drop his suspenders to his hips and saunter out onto the restaurant floor, but he hadn't done that in awhile. The smallest things sent people into such a tizzy.

"Cheese it, someones there!" a young voice hissed and two boys scrambled to get themselves out of the alley before he could see them.

"Hey now, hold on boys," he drawled with a lazy smile on his face, shoving his ever lengthening hair back from his dark brown eyes. It was another one of David's beefs with him, but again, David didn't understand that the more he harped about it, the less likely Skittery was too do anything about it. He wished his curls stuck around as he got older, he wanted to walk into work with a wild mane of hair one of these days, like the one his buddy, Trout from Brooklyn used to sport. David would have a stroke. "I ain't the bulls! Whatcha doing sneaking around here? If you's looking for someplace to hide out for a bit, its fine by me, but my boss is just on the other side of the door. He don't do handouts." The spring breeze rolled through, freshening the sour, smelly alley. Summer wasn't far away, soon, no amount of breeze would clear the stink from the streets.

The watched him warily, each as dirty as the other, just like he was as a kid and slowly stepped forward. He always liked kids, always made sure to look out for the littler boys in the lodging house. "We's lookin for food," the bigger of the two piped up. "Andy said that sometimes the kitchen guys leave stuff here." His hair hung down out of his cap, longer than most would wear it, stick straight and a feathery ash brown.

Skittery smiled, "Yeah, me and Blink sometimes do, for _Tumbler_ , but we ain't done it today, yet." He nodded at the single onion, hanging by its greens from the smaller boy's hand. "You know that that's food, right there, right?"

"'Course I do!" he snapped, his green eyes sharp. His blonde hair was curly and looked like it had never seen a comb. "But you ever had to eat one of these?" His nose scrunched and he glared at the bulb distastefully. "They's way better cooked, and if we take it to Ace it'll go in tomorrow's soup." He paused and scowled, "And Andy don't let nobody call him Tumbler no more."

Skittery had to chuckle at that and stubbed out his smoke. "He lets me, but then again, he don't really get a choice in the matter. So, who's this Ace?"

"My sister," the bigger one growled. His eyes were amber brown, warm like maple syrup, glowing out from a face that was too pale and too dirty. "What's it to you?" Skittery had to admire a boy who would look out for his sister so fiercely.

An extra bag of potatoes was accidentally delivered the day before and was sitting on the floor of Blink's office while he decided whether or not they could use it up in time. "Easy there, Tiger. I'm just curious, wondering who I'm sending a bag of potatoes to."

Their eyes lit up and the little one started talking a thousand miles an hour. "Ace feeds us, all the street kids. You bring her stuff to cook for tomorrow and she lets you eat today. A whole bag of potatoes...I could eat for...for...like a month on that!"

But the bigger one was still eyeing him. "Ace don't like charity and she don't like extra stuff sitting around the kitchen going bad. Thanks but no thanks, Mister. Give Jabber a potato and we'll be on our way." Skittery chuckled and stood up, digging through the crates and bins next to the back door.

"We don't let a lot go to waste around here, buuuuuuut, I think I saw a cabbage or two and some turnips that went soft in here..." He handed the produce over to the talkative little boy, who looked at his companion for permission to take more than one. "Go on, this way, if you meet someone else along the way who ain't found nothing you got something to share. More soup tomorrow, yeah?" The amber eyed boy nodded stiffly and Jabber stuffed every pocket he had with mealy turnips and tucked a cabbage under each arm.

"Gee thanks, Mister!"

"You two get a move on," Skittery said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his pressed pants. "And tell _Tumbler_ ," he over annunciated it in an accusing sort of a way and narrowed his eyes at them, making it sound like a threat, "that Skittery wants to see him if you happen to bump into him, huh?" The door handle started to jiggle. "Beat it! Before the boss sees you!" Truthfully, neither David nor Blink would say a word to street kids scrounging for food, but there was nothing like a chase to brighten a boy's day. He missed the adventure and freedom of life on the streets, even if he was glad that the hunger and grime was behind him.

The kitchen door swung wide and a glowering Thomas "Kid Blink" Knight stepped out and set him with a scathing look. Skittery grinned sheepishly and Blink's glare melted away. "You are some kinda piece of work, you know that?" Skittery chuckled as Blink took his spot on the stairs and ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Will you stop now? You found it, he's ready to fire you. I'm supposed to send you home for the day, you already had off tomorrow. If you're ready to play by the rules, you can show up for your shift on Thursday, if you're gonna keep this shit up though, you'd better find a new boss to needle."

He grinned again, "Those your words? Or Mouth's?"

Blink stared at him long and hard, his blue eyes suddenly looking tired. "Don't do that. Not when I just went to the matts for you. You're the best I've got on my schedule, you'd be the floor manager if you'd stop being a jackass to Dave. I can't give you a promotion when you are always one warning away from getting canned!"

"Pfft," Skittery scoffed, lighting another cigarette and offering one to Blink, even though he knew his boss and pal wouldn't take one because Katy would kill him if he came home smelling like tobacco, "I don't want to manage no one else. I just like waiting tables."

Blink grinned, staring at the glowing red cherry of the cigarette before snatching it from Skittery's finger and taking a single, greedy drag. "No one likes waiting tables! Everyone wants more out of life than bringing other people coffee and garlic bread." He blew out the smoke and stepped away, trying to air his clothes out frantically.

"I do," he answered. "You get to see and talk to a lot of people, but in small doses. They go away when they's supposed to. You can have a great conversation, charm 'em up, and then they move on."

Blink raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure all of them that saw your stupid pink long johns today was really charmed, Albert." Skits choked on his smoke laughing. "How did you even get the waist up so high? Didn't that hurt?"

"Yeah it did!" Not even a half an hour before, when David was due to make his rounds through the restaurant, Skittery made a decision. If Davey wanted his shirttails in, he would make sure they were all the way in. A trip to the washroom later, his shirttails were tucked into the pants of his signature pink long johns, which were pulled up nearly to his armpits coming out from under the waist of just trousers. His suspenders were up and tidy, his bow tie was straight, his hair was neatly combed, and he was doing a decent job of keeping his voice out of the soprano range as his hiked up underwear dug to dangerous depths. The discomfort was worth it to see David with steam practically shooting out of his ears. He actually thought the stoic man might punch him on the restaurant floor. It would have been glorious! They both chuckled lowly and idiotically at the mental image before shaking hands. "Thanks, Blink. For talking him out of kicking me out completely."

"You'da done the same for me."

Skits cleared his throat, "Uhhhh, can I ask one more favor?"

"You can ask..." Blink answered, "don't mean I'll give you shit, greedy bastard."

He grinned, "Those potatoes in your office? Can I put them to good use?" Blink shook his head and stood up without another word and came back with the burlap sack full of potatoes, a crate full of paper wrapped soup bones and a third crate full to the brim with leftover pastries from Sunday's brunch. Skittery's brown eyes went wide as he looked over the feast.

"Andy asked the other day. When you hadn't booked it, I figured some of the kids came back. He's just like you, looking out for the little ones."

"Not you, too!" He moved his brown curls off his forehead, sizing Blink up. "Marriage is making you soft, Blink. You cook, you get all sappy about little kids...does Katy know about this?"

Blink slapped him on the back of the head, but grinned. "Marriage don't make you soft, Skits, it just changes how you see things."

Skittery stared at his old friend for a moment before a sardonic smile tugged at his lips. "I take it back. You ain't gone soft. You mighta actually turned into a woman."

With a flip of the bird and a blinding grin, Blink snapped, "Eat me, Shithead."

Skittery sniggered, "There's the Blink I know and love! Now get to work before Mouth puts you in the corner too."

They both jumped as a new voice filled the alley, cutting in on their touching moment. "Well, this explains why Skits ain't got a girl." Tumbler, now sixteen years old and full of the kind of swagger that the two of them had at that age, sauntered in with a knowing smirk on his boyish face. "I always knew that something funny was going on in the bunk room after the lights went out."

Skittery rolled his eyes lazily. "If there was something going on in the bunk room when we was there, it wasn't us...remember the 'No Girls Upstairs, yes I mean you, Blink and Skittery' sign that Kloppy had up there?"

"Coulda all been a clever coverup," Tumbler insisted, taking his hat off and tucking it in his back pocket before shooting Skittery a dirty look. "What'dya want?

"How ya been, Kid?"

"I'd be better if you'd quit insisting on calling me Tumbler to my boys! The name is Andy, I ain't ten no more!" Blink and Skittery shared a momentary cool glance before jumping on the younger boy, not to hurt him, just to rough him up a bit. Skittery had Andy's head of dark curls, so much like his own only darker, tucked under his arm and was dragging his knuckles across the teenager's scalp while Blink attached with a barrage of punches that were too soft to be anything but annoying.

"You'll always be a little bit ten to us, Kid. And I'll call you whatever I want." Andy broke free with a scowl righting his clothes and huffing as the two older ones sniggered at him. "It ain't like Andy is so much tougher than Tumbler."

"You don't get it! You wasn't the leader, I can't have some kid name. I got to have respect and using real names worked for Jack and Spot. That's good enough for me!"

Blink laughed, deep and loud, his blonde head tipping back with the force of it. "Bad examples kid, since ain't neither one of them used their real names. Jack Kelly is Francis Sullivan, remember? And Spot ain't Spot's real name!"

"Then what is?"

Skittery wiggled his fingers in Andy's face and drew out his words. "Noooooooobody knooooooows."

Andy rolled his eyes, "You's stupid. You don't know what it's like. I got all them boys looking up to me, and they's younger than ever. I gotta live up to the rep." He looked pained and Skits had to bite his tongue to keep from saying, 'that's why you should never lead nothing.' He would never lead anything, because then people expected things of him. When people expect things of you, you can disappoint them. No it was better to keep things casual and mundane, go unnoticed. No one got hurt or disappointed that way.

"Andy Bayarri don't really got that 'Spot Conlon,' make ya want to shit your pants ring to it," Blink said, saying the name silently to himself over and over, his lips moving without sound.

"It's Andy Bays," he corrected, dropping his eyes as Skittery glared at him.

The kid was knowinly erasing the last remaining evidence of their family, and it stabbed deeply in him. He knew Andy didn't remember as much as he did, but still, to do away with the only name they could ever be tracked down by, that hurt. "That's all you got left of them, and you's dropping half of it?"

Blink side stepped towards the kitchen door, wanting no part of the fight. "I better go make sure that Bernard isn't costing me a fortune in butter in there. Skits, Thursday, ready to be a model employee even if David is there."

"Yeah, you got it Boss," Skittery answered, never taking his scowl off of his younger brother while Blink ran for the safety of the kitchen and the rather hot tempered French chef inside. Andy chanced a few upward glances, but Skittery's glare never faltered. "We'll talk about the name business while we walk, grab that sack of potatoes."

Andy grudgingly picked up the potatoes, huffing with annoyance and scuffing his boots on the sidewalk. "They ain't coming back and it ain't like you can talk, still going by Skittery when you ain't sold a paper in six years." Skittery didn't answer, anyone who met him said that his real name didn't fit him, but it was his all the same. He wouldn't get rid of it, he just went by what fit and he told anyone who asked his last name proudly, secretly hoping after years and years that someone would say, 'hey, are you related to the Bayarri's who live...whereever?' It was a childish hope, but he clung to it. "Where we going anyway?

He sighed, and tucked away his hurt feelings. "You's taking me to deliver this stuff to Ace."

Tumbler stopped in his tracks and his face went stony and still. He looked older all of a sudden, and protective. "How do you know about Ace?"

He swelled with pride at his younger brother looking so much like a man and doing right by someone he thought needed him. It made him even more curious to meet Ace, since she inspired such protective gestures from both her brother and his. "Those kids that told you I was looking, Jabber and..."

"Joey, Joey Gamble. They're good kids," but he shook his head, "but I can't take you to Ace. She wouldn't like it. She don't take kindly to strangers."

"She feeds street kids, she's gotta deal with strangers every day," Skittery reasoned. He didn't understand what the problem was, he just wanted to do something nice for some street kids, he always made sure to take care of Andy and all of the other younger boys too when he lived at the Lodging House. It was the one rule he never broke, the only thing he never questioned or pushed. He took care of those that were smaller than him, and he liked it. Lots of the boys thought that it was just because Tumbler was his little brother, but he looked after the littler boys in the lodging house before Tumbler left home, and would always break up a fight, bust a bully or sneak some scraps out to a hungry stomach.

"Yeah, Kids," Andy insisted. "She's...skittish, Al." His nose scrunched and he stared at his older brother, "Yeah, you's right, Skittery it is. That's just weird, calling you Albert."

Skittery rolled his eyes, "I won't go in, I won't bother her none, but you can't carry all of this alone."

Andy nodded and sighed in resignation, "Fine then, but you can't go in unless SHE invites you, and you gotta be nice, because I can't promise she will be."

"Livewire, is she?"

Andy shook his head with a rueful grin, "She don't like strangers, she don't like men and she don't like her rules being broken. So, she's pretty much going to hate you, Skits."

 _A/N: whatever you were expecting after meeting Elvie in the prologue...this probably wasn't it. Read, Review, all feedback is good feedback._


	3. Chapter 3

Her hands flew over the pillow in her lap, twisting, knotting, switching between the thirteen bobbins of pure, white silk as quick as can be. Pinning the pattern into place and moving on to the next series of knots without even looking down. Her hands knew exactly what to do when left alone to do their work. Her brothers and sister where still out either at school or their jobs, but would be home soon. The peaceful part of her day was nearly at an end, but she would savor the comforting, muffled quiet of her safe world as long as she could. "Elvie?" A voice called alongside a knock. The basement apartment at the corner of Hester and Ludlow in the Lower East Side of Manhattan got few visitors and she liked it that way. Her back went rigid as she stopped twisting the thread and bobbins that hung from her cushion, freezing at the unexpected noise. "Elvie, its me, Annabel from the dress shop." Elvie let out a soft sigh of relief and pinned off the rambling rose patterned piece of lace she was working on with shaking hands before reaching for her spectacles that sat on the low table just to her side. She hooked the gold wires over her ears and stood slowly, placing the cushion on the side table, every move calculated. Mrs. Fredericks was her main customer, selling her handmade lace gloves, collar pieces, trims and even full gowns entirely made of her lace from time to time. Annabel worked for the couturier, running errands and sweeping floors. To tell the truth, Elvie would have preferred that one of her siblings go to the shop for the deliveries and exchanging of money, but she understood Mrs Fredericks' reluctance to have dirty little street urchins turning up at her Fifth Avenue shop. She swallowed back the wave of guilt that her siblings looked so shabby. Another nervous, rapid serious of knocks rapped out, scraping at her patience. Annabel knew better. "Elvie? Are you there?" the girl called again.

"Just a second Annabel," she called, trying to even out the remaining tremble of fear that the unexpected interruption put in her voice. Elvie didn't like strangers in her home and, after two years or deliveries, Annabel was hardly a stranger, but she still made the girl wait outside in the stairwell while she prepared herself for the interaction. "I need to clean up what I was doing."

Annabel giggled good naturedly, "As if that apartment is anything but immaculate."

Elvie let out a single hum of humorless laughter at the true statement. Despite the five kids living in it, her being the closest to an adult in the house at just twenty, the dark, underground apartment was always pristine. It had to be. She moved through the space easily, from the back of the small sitting room where her different lace making items were to the front where the door split the sitting room from the kitchen. It was only ten or so steps to cross the room, a tight fit with all of her work and even tighter once all of the kids got home.

Next to the door stood a tall narrow shelf where she kept the finished pieces for Mrs. Fredericks and where a looking glass was propped up. With a trepidatious sigh, she forced her blue eyes open and tilted her head as her left eye adjusted to the light. The angle kept her from seeing the worst night of her life staring back at her from the mirror as the whitewash slowly faded and the partial profile of a girl who worked too hard came into a blurry semblence of focus. Her right eye was useless; it hadn't seen more than a fuzzy black shape move or the change from dark to light since she was twelve years old. Skinny and angular from long hours and small meals made up of whatever was left after the others had their fill, her face was framed by soft brown hair, like the feathers of a finch, that she kept bound in two skinny braids that wrapped around her head to cover some of the scars that sliced through the downy, fine mass. There was no hiding the thick ropes of silvery, sliced skin that wrapped up from her shoulder and both around her throat and up into the baby hairs at the nape of her neck, nor the patch of lashes that fell down her brow, licking her eye, her temple and her cheek with different strands. Content with what she saw, she picked up the paper wrapped parcel and opened the door to Annabel's bright smile.

She was a sweet girl who grew up just a few blocks away and had a crush on Elvie's younger brother, Doug for years when they were in school together. She was a true beauty with her deep auburn hair and blue eyes, and her beauty was only enhanced by the smart but simple dress that Mrs. Fredericks had her girls wear as their uniform. The charcoal grey wool suited her creamy skin and the shining buttons mirrored the happy sparkles that always seemed to be in her eyes. Elvie loved buttons, it seemed to her that one could tell a lot about a person by the buttons they chose, but no matter how she squinted as Annabel chattered, she couldn't make out the detail of the shiny black buttons. The intricate work she had done for so long in the low light of the apartment, despite that fact that she did most of it with her eyes closed now, was taking it's toll on her. "A girl came in asking about a lace wedding gown," Annabel said excitedly, pulling Elvie from the dark thoughts that were starting to worm their way into her head. She hated being idle. "The Missus wanted me to bring back an answer as to whether you thought you could fit it in. We all know that the everyday items keep you busy."

Elvie pulled off her glasses and rubbed hard at her eyes, her fingers running over the knotted strands left by the kiss of the whip on her skin. When she opened them, she was shocked at how bad her vision really was without her glasses and hurriedly put them back on. "When is the wedding?" she asked, picking up her ledger from the shelf and beginning to flip through. "I need at least three months for a gown."

Annabel clapped her hands giddily, as if it was her dress. "Not till October."

Elvie nodded and picked up a pen, writing it into the ledger. That gown would bolster them through the lean winter months. "I'll do it, but I'll need pattern specifics, style, measurements and thread as soon as possible so that it doesn't interfere with my regular orders. I can easily add and extra hour a day until then." She wiped her hand across her face before handing Annabel the wrapped parcel full of lace. Annabel traded her for a similar packet that was filled with thread, a paycheck and a small book full of the orders for the month. When she looked back from placing it on the shelf for safekeeping, Annabel was staring at her face, craning her neck to the side to watch her. She was looking for signs of life in the darker blue of her right eye, forever marred by ther father's indisgressions. "Is there something wrong, Annabel?"

"You really do all this yourself without...while you're..."

Elvie sighed, "You can say it, Annabel. The truth doesn't offend me. I do it all blind. Yes. The boys wind thread for me and Adrienne helps with some of the borders after school, but she's still learning."

"I was going to say half blind, I mean you can see me right now," she defended, her eyes trained on the floor.

"Most of the lace, I do by heart, not by sight." Annabel's jaw dropped. This was exactly one of the reasons Elvie didn't see people. She wasn't some spectacle in a sideshow to be gawked at. She was doing what anyone would do, taking care of her siblings by doing the trade her mother taught her. Even if she could see perfectly well, she could do all but new patterns or very intricate pictures with her eyes closed. It was repetitive and her fingers remembered what to do. "Shouldn't you be getting back to work?" She could feel the cloud of pity growing and swelling between them.

The girl cocked her auburn head to the side and slowly looked up. "I get off work at six and I don't go to school anymore. I could help...if you let me. You could teach me like you do Adrienne and I could help you at night. You wouldn't need to pay me until I could earn it."

It was a kind offer, but Elvie couldn't stop the frown that weighed down her face. "You'd be more of a burden than a blessing." It was the truth and she didn't believe in lying to save people's feelings. They were better off knowing the truth. Annabel's pretty face crumpled in disappointment and she turned to climb the steps back up to the street without so much as a good bye. Elvie sighed, taking her glasses off again. She would regret this, she knew she would. "Annabel," she called, unable to live with being the type of person who would treat a kindness that way. "The boys are all gone by eight. Bring some sewing thread and a pincushion." Annabel was too far away from her for her to see her face, but from the ecstatic squeal, the pounding of high heeled boots on the cement steps and the small body that crashed into her, filling her vision with auburn hair, she could imagine the redhead's smile.

When she was once again alone, sitting on her stool in the comforting darkness of the basement apartment, she closed her eyes and rested her forehead in her hand. Annabel was exhausting. For some reason, the children that she spoke to every night never drained her energy, but adults made her weary with their constant shuffling and excusing themselves as they tried to save each other from hurt. She didn't uinderstand how they didn't see that people ended up less hurt if they knew the truth and faced it. After a few minutes soaking up the silence, she pulled the cushion back into her lap and got to work. The sun was halfway up her forearms, so she had about an hour left before she needed to get supper on. She felt the pattern, her fingers knowing the knots and twists, remembering where she left off easily, and she started again. Twisting, knotting, switching bobbins as the beautiful rose blooms and leaves trailed through the piece until the sun's warmth kissed her chin and then set her work aside and left the workroom for the kitchen.

With the stove and oven lit and warming, she went to the shelf by the door and pulled out a crate from the lowest shelf. "Lets see what you gave me to work with," she mumbled as she set it on the countertop. She didn't need to look to know what she was feeling. Onions, cabbage, turnip, rutabaga, carrots and lots of half wilted greens. She easily chopped everything up and added it to the pot with lots of salt and dried garlic, letting it all sit and cook until it was fragrant and then added water. While the soup came to a simmer, she cut fat into flour and added buttermilk, rolled it out and cut the dough into a tidy grid before putting the biscuits into the oven. She was just cleaning up the mess and starting to put out the large stack of tin bowls and coffee can full of mismatched spoons when another voice called out. "Knock, knock Ace!" This time she smiled, Andy's was one of the few deepened male voices that didn't paralyze her with fear, but then again, she'd known him since he was a squeaky voiced ten year old, she'd listened to his voice mature. He was a good kid. He didn't always say the right thing, but in action, he was as good as they came. "Can I come in? It's Andy!"

"Door's open, Andy," she answered, stepping away from the sink and starting the wipe down the countertop again.

He seemed to be talking, or maybe even arguing with someone else for a few moments before he opened the door. "Just set it there, Skits," he directed. Wood scraped harshly against the stone floor. Things weren't allowed to be on the floor. It was dangerous for her. Even if she had both eyes open and her spectacles on, she could easily miss something and trip. Her shoulder blades squeezed together in anger at the disrespect to her rules in her house and she was about to tell whoever Andy brought off when he yelped, "Stay there, Ace!" making her freeze in place. "There's a box just behind you and to your left. Give me a sec and I'll fix it." He came up beside her and gave her a quick smile as he set down a ten pound sack of potatoes next to her and then turned, ducking out of sight for a moment and returning with a crate full of slightly dry looking, but still beautiful, bakery made pastries. She glared at him. "You let someone in my house who doesn't know the rules?"

He sighed and ran his hand through his thick head of hair. "My stupid brother isn't very good at rules, but don't worry, he's staying outside until I get the chance to house train him."

"Says you," a deeper version of Andy's voice rumbled out from the stairs as the door clicked closed. Elvie's heart began pounding in her ears so loudly that it was all she could hear. She was trapped. Trapped in a room with a man she couldn't see. Her hands frantically patted the countertop looking for something she could defend herself with. She wasn't going to be dragged off unaware somewhere. A wooden spoon was all she came across and she would figure out a way to use it if she had to. The fact that Andy was with her didn't even register. She might as well have been back in the burned out building or on the moon. She was trapped. With a man. And couldn't see him.

"Ace," Andy said softly, breaking into the frantic escape plan her mind was trying to form. "Ace, that's just my dumb big brother, Skittery." She watched him turn and scowl, "Get out, Skits, I told you not to!" She could feel the intruder's confused stare probing her scarred neck, hunched shoulders and strange behavior. Andy's ink stained hand moved close to her's, but didn't touch. He knew better than to touch. "Turn around and look at him, Ace. He's a big gangly looking, asshole who needs a haircut. He likes to annoy people, but he'd never hurt no one." He turned his hand over palm up and waited quietly. She turned, taking in the younger brother and he smiled, inching his hand closer. She falteringly placed her hand on his and let him slowly turn her around until she was facing the unwelcome visitor.

He was staring at her face, that much she could make out, and his eyes were dark. She wanted to see him, to look him in the eye when she told him off for breaking the rules in her house. Her eyes slid back to Andy as she pulled her hand away from him. "Nothing is on the floor?" He shook his head with a tentative smile and she took a bold step forward, closing the distance between the older brother and herself so she could actually see him. His hair was too long, but it seemed to fit him, curling behind his ears and at the nape of his neck and his face was attractive, there was no denying that. Her feet moved forward again. Very attractive. He wasn't staring anymore, his brown eyes were downcast. The fluttering in her middle scared her, she'd never felt that before. She didn't know what to do with all of the feelings he was eliciting in her. She needed to get rid of him. "Since Andy knows better than to clutter up my house with excess, I assume that all of this is from you?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered respectfully, but his brow lowered, which meant he'd figured her reasoning out, but she didn't see or hear pity, just guilt..

"And what made you think I could use that?"

He looked up, meeting her gaze and the flutters got even more ferocious in her gut. "The state of your kid brother when he was digging through the trash at my work for things to bring you!" he snapped. While she didn't like the judgement on Joey's appearance, it was true. They way they looked to other people announced to the world how hard they were struggling. His dark eyes went down and up her frame and she blushed. She hated the way he was pushing against her, the meticulous way she had the Gamble family running, but she had to appreciate the way it showed her what she missed while she hid away in the basement. "Neither one of you looks like you's had a square meal in ages and we had extra to spare."

She took another step closer, but stopped in her tracks at a shuffle behind her. "Andy Bays, don't you dare put your ass on my clean countertops!"

Andy chuckled and she heard him adjust his position, leaning on the counter instead. "Can't see two feet in front of your face, but your vision is perfect to the rear, huh?"

"It's a gift," she snarled. "Don't make me use it on you again. You follow the rules here or you get out." She turned back to the older brother without disputing Andy's assessment of her vision There was no use wasting her breath. "You can take your charity right on back to your hotel, the kids and I have a good arrangement here. Six of us live in this apartment, we don't have room for things to be left sitting around."

His brow, set low and straight over his almond shaped eyes that were still watching her every move as if it was his job, raised a bit. "You mean you can't have things sitting around so you can walk around without thinking and don't trip on them." She gasped inside at the accusation, but he kept right on going. "Those kids deserve that food, even if it inconveniences you for a few hours." She stopped and stared at him until her head ached. He was right of course. But this was her house and her rules, and he wasn't going to change them.

She was not an imposing person with her narrow shoulders and thin frame, but she drew herself up, as big as she could and set her jaw. She didn't know why she wasn't kicking him out. No one ever challenged her, except Rob, and even he didn't do it effectively, and she was horrified to realize she liked it. "Grown men aren't welcome in this house, not even my own father, but if they were, they'd have to use their real names. I don't tolerate falsehoods."

"It's Albert," he answered testily, not offering a last name. "And you are? Since I don't think ya mothah slapped your ass and called you Ace when you popped out."

She had to fight the smile threatening to break at that. His sarcastic wit was refreshing, but he would ruin the careful world she created in that basement. She stuck her hand out, purposefully too low so that he had to reach for it. "Elvina Gamble." They both held tight to the other's hand, each challenging the other, but to what she didn't know. His hand was warm and dry and soft, softer than she ever expected. "I thank you for thinking of the kids, but I have a system here that works for me. Please take your things and be on your way, Mr. Bays."

His brown eyes, she wanted to get closer to see what kind of brown, but that would require a type of intimacy she didn't allow, narrowed to slits. "I ain't going nowhere, Miss Gamble. I'll sit outside and hand a pastry for tonight and a potato for tomorrow to each kid if I have to, but you ain't chasing me away." His face changed, relaxing a bit and he looked between the crate and her and for whatever reason she gave him permission to step by her. He rummaged in the crate and pulled out the paper wrapped parcel and stepped back to her, tucking it into her hands and leaving his over the top of hers so that she couldn't pull away. "But you keep this. It don't hardly take up any room and there's still time to let it put some goodness in tonight's pot." She looked curiously down at the heavy parcel. "Its a ham bone and maybe some other soup bones. I dunno, I didn't pack it." She felt herself soften as his hands pulled away from her's.

She nodded stiffly and said, in a raspy voice, " There's a bench outside the next building down where you can hand them out. It's very kind of you. I just need you to stay out of my way, Bays."

"No sweat, Elvina." With that, he loaded up his potatoes and his much lighter crate full of pastries and left without another word, leaving her and Andy alone in the kitchen. She moved slowly, feeling the air in the apartment was suddenly harder to breathe, harder to move through and put the bones into the simmering pot of soup. He was right, those bones would add lots of filling goodness for the kids, things they needed to be strong.

"I tried to tell him, Ace," Andy said quietly.

She shook her head and smiled a little, "Some people can't be told anything, they just have to run at everything headlong and find their own way." She stirred the soup and took her glasses off to rub her face again. Her head ached, her eyes were tired, she was tired. She tucked the wires of her glasses back over her ears, and put the bones into the pot. "There are also people who never learn anything, who just keep running into things until the impact kills them."

Andy's dark eyes were on her, she could feel them on her skin the same as his brother's only not as intense. "That's him awright," he sighed, "the first one, I mean. That plus and extra dose of 'oh that bothers you, lemme do it again.' He learns, he just does it good and slow and makes sure he understands every possible way he could annoy you first."

She chuckled, murmuring, "He's trouble, all right," and moved to the window, trying to see the bench just a few yards away. If he really stayed and handed each of those pastries and each of those potatoes out by hand, she would have no choice but to be impressed. She didn't do lies, she wouldn't pretend to not like him if he proved himself, but she also didn't trust easily. Earning that would be quite a feat on his part and she was shocked at the thrill that ran up her spine at the prospect of watching him try.

 _A/N: This is honestly the fastest any of my characters have met each other...Trout and Jo didn't meet until like 6 chapters in, lol. I'm working on the whole 'wordy AF, can't shut up to save my soul' thing. So, now you've met the woman Elvie grew to be. She's a little...rigid. Hopefully our darling rule breaker can loosen her up some. Reviews are rewarded with shoutouts now, because...I'm bored and I can._

 _ **Joker**_ _: you're the best, and you know you love how much I make fun of Skits being named Albert (that was her doing)._

 _ **Coveredinbees14**_ _: I love getting your reviews, I love that you're posting again. If you(Readers) like dark and brooding and can handle gaslighting, go read_ _ **Below Your Feet**_ _. Her Spot is chillingly accurate for an abusive partner, to the point that I never want to keep reading, but I always do. He doesn't just manipulate Tay, he manipulates you as you read and you can't even hate him._

 _And to my **Guest** reviewer who reviewed with such enthusiasm, welcome and thank you! I hope you stick with me!_

 _Please keep the reviews, favorites and follows coming...or just read, I obviously just like talking about needing applause, I'll keep writing with or without it!_


	4. Chapter 4

She never expected him to stay the whole evening on that bench. At the time, it seemed like he was only doing it to spite her, just because she told him he couldn't do what he wanted. The swarm of hungry kids had come and gone and nearly every one of them told her about the guy on the bench with sweets and potatoes, and she assured them that he was ok and that they should take what he was offering if they wanted. Her siblings trailed in one by one, Joey and Adrienne got in line for soup with their friends, Doug wouldn't be home for a few more hours, but August made his way straight to her side. "Who's the buster with the potatoes?" he asked in a surly way, contrasting in every way from the sweetness with which he tucked his head down onto her shoulder like he'd done for the past six years. It didn't matter to him that people were looking funny at the fifteen year old snuggling up to the only parent he knew like a small child or that he was so much taller than her now that he had to bend in an awkward way. He was the only person alive who she let stand to her right, trusting him there in her blind spot.

She reached back and patted the downy ash blonde hair on his head, "He's fine, Auggie. So long as he stays outside." He picked his head up and gave her a skeptical glance. "I told him he could stay. He's Andy's brother."

"Oh, Skittery!" he answered amicably.

Scooping up more soup and tucking her hip closer into the table, she asked, "Did you know him?" He tucked in closer too, knowing that she served because if she let go of the counter with all of the extra people in the house she felt like an unmoored ship on a restless sea. The kids would push and pull her small frame until she didn't know which way she was facing. He planted himself by her side every evening not because he wasn't hungry or because he liked his soup lukewarm, but because she needed him there and would never ask.

His head rested on her shoulder, his chin digging into her collarbone, and shook his head. "He was gone before I started selling. He's one of the boys that went on strike." She almost felt his eyebrows lower, knowing she didn't like thinking of that time. She patted his head again before pushing him up and dishing out the last three bowls of soup. The first she placed in his hands. The other two she put a piece of biscuit in and a spoon and headed for the door. "Elvie," he moaned, "what are you doing?"

"He did a good turn for the kids," she answered resolutely, because she was nothing but brave within the walls of the basement, "I'm doing one in return."

He stood, plunking his bowl down on the table with force. "No." His arms moved, she assumed crossing over his chest in protest. "I'm not letting you do that to yourself." She didn't argue, just stood in front of the closed door and waited. He would do what she asked, even if she didn't ask it. With a frustrated huff, he stomped over to her and took the bowls from her hands and she put one on his elbow. "Eyes open the whole time, if you're going to insist on this." She agreed with a deep shaking breath, and waited for him to step, always just a half of a step ahead of her so she could feel his movement and anticipate the next one she had to make from that. "If you get...ya know...you'll tell me? And I'll bring you back?" She nodded, not naming the sheer panic that being outside of the walls where she knew every ripple in the floor and piece of furniture brought her was as close to a lie as she'd allow.

Her fingertips dug into the skin in the crook of his elbow, and the muscle twitched as he tried hard not to pull away from the pain as they stepped out the door and into the stairwell. The warmth of the late spring evening hit her suddenly and her skin hurt in the outside air. Their were so many sounds that she couldn't differentiate and identify and a swirl of movement at the top of the stairs that overwhelmed her. She stopped hard in her tracks and swallowed compulsively like she might retch and throw up. "You ok?" Auggie asked in a quiet voice.

"Am I ever?" she asked back, forcing her feet to move.

"Eyes open?"

She nodded. "Eyes open." The noise wasn't so all consuming and was settling in her ear drums, but a strange clacking noise too organic and out of sync to be from a machine or a motor car or a carriage rang out over the general din of the city streets. "What's that sound?" She kept her promise, her eyes were open, her head swiveling to see all around her, but all she could see were the sides of the stairwell. He stepped and she followed until he turned to her with a beautiful grin on his face.

"They're sword fighting, like we used to when we were kids. With broomsticks."

He took another step up and the noise got louder. "They who?"

"Andy and Skittery." He described their movements for her in detail as he slowly moved her up one step at a time, never letting her dwell on how close she was getting to the street by keeping her focused on the action in front of them with the gentle camber of his voice. A loud yell of triumph rang out that made her jump, but Auggie patted her hand. "Andy beat him."

"Ace!" Andy called, jogging into view, red faced and grinning as the soft light before sunset warmed the street. "Nice to see you outside."

His brother followed him, huffing and puffing with sweat pouring down his face. He smelled like summer sun and the city she'd hid from so long and she liked it. His dark eyes bored into her skin as she stood, still holding Auggie's arm so tightly that his skin was bulging between her fingers. "I gotta know, what's with Ace? You ain't a newsie. You ain't never been a newsie, so where'd you pick up a nickname like that?"

She sighed, "Andy?"

"Yeah Ace?"

"Smack your brother for me. My aim is terrible." He grinned and took a running tackle at his older brother without another thought. She watched the misshapen blob they were to her roll around for a few seconds with a small smile on her face.

"Elvie?" Annabel came into view slowly, her red hair easy for Elvie to follow. "You're outside."

"Am I?" she asked, looking around. "I thought it seemed a little breezy."

Annabel's coppery eyebrows knitted into one. "You're funny outside." A small ripple of laughter rolled out of Elvie and, while it didn't quell the fear, it released the grip in had on her for a few seconds, allowing Auggie a few seconds of relief from the vice grip she had on his arm. The sounds of the scuffle faded and Andy stood up grinning and sauntered back closer only to stop and stare with his mouth open. Annabel blushed deeply, the features of her face nearly disappearing in the red of her cheeks and hair. Skittery ambled back over, grumbling and brushing his clothes off and took in the scene with a smirk on his handsome face. Realizing how many times she'd thought about how handsome he was, Elvie joined Annabel in blushing while the two brothers took them in.

Skittery couldn't let the moment last though. He smacked Andy up the back side of his head and shoved him forward. "Jesus H. Christ, Tumbler, wipe the drool off yah chin and take the girl for a walk. Didn't I teach you nothing?"

Auggie sniggered and leaned in to murmur, "Andy flipped him the bird."

She smiled, "Go on, Annabel. We'll start in a little while." She waited for the young couple to walk away before searching out Skittery's tall frame in the dimming light. "Bays?" She said tentatively.

"I didn't do it!" he barked, making her jump back. "I done what you told me, I swear!"

"Guilty conscience?" Auggie muttered under his breath for only her to hear and she chuckled.

"I know, and I appreciate it. I brought you some supper." He was quiet as he moved forwards so that she could see more than just the silhouette of him. The summer sun began to sink below the buildings, finally going to rest after a long day.

His eyes darted across every feature in her face, every scar, every freckle, every stray hair, not staring or nervously skipping over the ones that made her uncomfortable like her blind eye that didn't move in unison with it's mate or the long scar that trailed all the way from behind her hairline down her face and ended near her mouth. "Did you eat?" he asked stiffly.

"Not yet," she answered.

He narrowed his eyes, "Is there more or did you give yours to me?" She pursed her mouth and looked away. "Thought so." He turned to Auggie. "What about you? You eaten?"

Auggie nodded. "Mine's inside."

He nodded at the second bowl in Auggie's hands. "Who is that for then?"

"Andy," she answered.

He smiled at her, beamed happily that she would look out for his kid brother, and her stomach tittered and galloped inside of her. Trouble. This man was so much trouble. She was eyeballs deep in trouble. He looked back to Auggie and took one of the bowls from him. "G'head and take the other back inside, eat it if you want. Tumbler's got other appetites he's filling right now." The grin the two males shared was naughty and a bit predatory, but she just rolled her eyes. She knew Annabel had nothing to worry about in Andy. "Eat it if you want, I can get Andy something later. We's always done all right."

Auggie looked down at her and tilted his head to the side. "You proved your point, now can I take you back in?" her brother asked.

"No," she answered with a break in her voice as she forced her hand off of his arm. He moved away slowly and her heart picked up to a rapid staccato beat. "Go eat. I'll be all right." Auggie, didn't move. He just stared down at her until she gave him a push and then sulked back to the house.

Skittery cleared his throat, "Ima go sit on my bench." He started moving and she quickly lost him into the blur. He was gone and she was alone in the street.

"Bays?" she yelped, reaching her arm out into the space in front of her. She was adrift. She didn't know if the stone stairs down to the apartment were a few steps behind her or a few dozen, she wasn't paying attention when Auggie led her up because she was focused on not panicking.

A big hand caught hers, soft and dry, and she remembered the way his hand felt when she shook it earlier. He stepped closer, and she exhaled. It was him. His brow was furrowed, his dark eyes looking out of his face anxiously. "You's shaking," he murmured, looking at her hand.

"Uh-huh," she whimpered, clinging tightly to that hand. "I don't come out here much so I don't know my way." She swallowed loudly. "Don't leave me, Bays." The order came out gruff and gritty as she pushed past the wad of fear choking her.

She looked up, expecting the dreaded look of pity, but it wasn't there, just a smile. "You making Bays a thing?"

She smiled shakily, "I just can't seem to make my mouth call you Albert. Your own brother doesn't call you your name."

He grinned and moved her hand up to his elbow like Auggie did, but left his hand sitting on top of hers as he tugged her gently towards the bench. "No one does except customers at work and that's only because I got a badge saying it on my shirt there." When she could see the bench, she reached out for it and sat down gratefully. "My buddies and Tumbler...Andy, they all calls me Skittery. Here." He put the bowl of soup in her hands. "I can feel the bones in your fingers, you need that more than me." She frowned and he chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm eating too." He held one of the dry but jewel like pastries up, it's red jam center shining in the light of the street lamps. "Sarah always puts an extra raspberry one in the batch for Sunday brunch in for me."

She suddenly felt so disappointed; he had a girl who put pastries just for him in the hotel's order. "You must be pretty special to her for her to do that for you."

"Nah," he answered, crumbling some of the dry pastry. "Her husband owns a bakery a few blocks from here, Harkins Bake Shop, and she's known me since the Children's strike. She knows I like the raspberry ones and she's my boss's big sister so if she says the Danish is mine, he can't say nothing because he might be rich, but she'll still kick his ass." She chuckled and he dipped his head, letting his shaggy hair fall in his face. "My mother loved raspberries. She used to say that they grew wild around her family's house and she and her sisters would pick them. For her birthday, me and my sisters would pool our pennies and get her a jar of raspberry jam, just for her, but she'd always use it to make a pie for everyone." She wasn't sure because he was hiding his face, but he sounded sad.

Her stomach growled as the smell of the soup hit her nose. After all the years of serving the neighborhood kids, she'd managed to ignore it while she scooped out the hot broth and gave it away, but now that they were all fed and dispersing to the various places they slept at night, she realized how hungry she was. It was cold, but flavorful, and on such a warm night, the lack of heat to the soup didn't bother her. "Where are they now?" she asked once she swallowed a few more bites.

"Hell if I know. I left home when I was eleven, started living at the Newsboys Lodging house because there were too many of us to feed. Then one day I showed back up and new people lived there." The pregnant silence between them told her there was more to it than that, but that he wasn't willing to say more. He sniffed, and shook his hair back out of his face with a wobbling, one-sided smile. "What about you? How did you end up feeding every street kid on the Lower East Side?"

"There's five of us kids, and we've been basically on our own since just after my twelfth birthday when my mother died." _When she was tortured to death because Pop made a bad debt and tried to weasel his way out of it!_ her brain screamed in protest. "We were just scraping by, but my brothers, Doug and Auggie, they'd always be bringing some kid home who was hungry, and I couldn't turn them away. So I said we could add another cup of water for tonight, but tomorrow they had to bring something by if they wanted to share. I didn't care what so long as it could be cooked into supper. By the end of the week I had a crate full of vegetables by my door and ten or fifteen extra kids showing up. We had to eat in shifts because we didn't have enough dishes, but we made do, we always do."

He was quiet again, and the light was so dim that she couldn't make out much of his face except the dark pools of his eyes shining back at her from his pale face. "Just like that huh, you took on the whole neighborhood?"

She smiled into her bowl as she drained the last of the broth, "Just like that, you show up at a stranger's doorstep with ten pounds of potatoes?" He chuckled and sat back. "Funny that your mother liked raspberries so much."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked taking the bowl from her hands and setting it on the ground before slouching down and throwing his arm over the back of the bench. She could feel the heat from his hand next to her arm and found herself shuffling towards it until they gently collided and the sides of his fingers were resting against the fabric of her white blouse. The dark shadows of his eyes turned to look at the connection and then her face "Why's that."

She reached into the cuff of her sleeve and pulled out her hanky. The lace trimming the edge was unassuming and simple, and the embroidery in the corner equally so. She handed it to him, "Look in the lace, just below the M."

"Raspberries," he said with a bit of wonder in his voice.

She chuckled. "Everything has them. Every piece my mother or I ever made. It's our signature. Her's was five berries. Mine is four."

"She made this." His voice was reverent, something she didn't think he was capable of when she met him a few hours before. "Why raspberries?"

The soft linen was back in her hand and she smoothed it before tucking it back into her cuff. "I never asked. Five for the five of us, but I never knew why the berries. I don't even like raspberries, but its my...offering to her. She gave me the skills that keep us eating and sleeping indoors. So I keep it up."

His voice was just a soft, silky vibration running through the air. The streets were starting to quiet, as much as Manhattan streets would, and the butter soft tones sent a shiver down her spine. "Why four for you?"

"Doug, August, Adrienne and Joey," she answered matter-of-factly.

"What about you?"

She shrugged, "Everything I do is for them."

The smile in his voice made her heart pound, she was sure it was every bit as gorgeous as it sounded, "So sitting on a bench on the street, talking to some bum who messed up your system...that's for them?"

She scoffed, "You're infuriating." The roguish smile that curved his mouth did her in. He was going to be the ruin of her world, she'd known it from the moment she knew she wanted to bring supper out to him. He'd already changed her, drawing her out of her safe house and into the streets of Manhattan, and he would keep changing her and pushing her. Somewhere deep inside she knew she needed it, but she was still afraid. The last boy who made her feel this way was a lie. If this was all some clever construct, she wasn't sure she could survive a second ride.

 _ **A/N: When I'm stressed out, I write...be prepared for A LOT of writing in the next few weeks.**_


	5. Chapter 5

He couldn't believe how quickly she changed her tune. She hated him when he arrived, but now she was giving up her own supper for him and he might not have reacted, but he didn't miss the way she moved in so she was touching him. Much as he might want to think there was something there, he chalked it up to her fear. He figured that it was so she knew where he was, that he wasn't leaving her alone and unable to get back home. He had to tell himself that. He was no starry eyed kid, he knew that love didn't happen that way. People didn't just see each other and know things. More than that, he wasn't sure how much of him she could see at all, so love at first sight was completely bunk.

They'd been sitting silent for a few minutes while his mind tried to work out the strange trajectory of the evening. The way her jaw tensed and clenched and then relaxed spoke to the heavy thoughts on her mind as well. He could stare at her shamelessly for hours. She wasn't some great beauty. She was like a watercolor still life, simple and soft but unendingly real. Her eyes were a powdery sort of blue, not sharp nor striking, but soft and velvety, their off kilter gaze wrapping over him like a cozy afghan. The scars that ran down her face, while obvious, didn't keep him from seeing her, in fact it seemed almost like he could see more of her because of them. They brought the true her into focus. She didn't mince words or hide her intentions and she came off so tough with her rules and her barking orders, but get her out, into the real world as she was so afraid, and he liked both sides. Not that he liked having her boss him around, but she certainly didn't let him push her buttons and he respected that. Those soft eyes backed by a solid steel backbone but with a tender heart that needed someone all kept him looking back again and again. "So, you wanna tell me how you got all them kids calling you Ace now?"

She chuckled and it was little more than a rolling hum. "Still stuck on that, huh?" She turned her narrow body towards him on the bench, never letting the wood slats of the seat go, like it was all that was keeping her from lifting off like a hot air balloon. They were situated between two street lamps and if the light was getting dim for him, he figured she could hardly see anything. "It's because of our dad, Doug started it really. Our father," her voice got rough and grating anytime he was mentioned, "taught Doug about cards young and he was good at it. He knew every card by heart. When I came back after..." she paused and swallowed, her pale hand rising to cover her face, "once we knew I couldn't see out of it anymore, Doug called me a one eyed Queen. There are no one eyed Queens, only Kings and Jacks. I told him that in hopes that he'd stop, but he just started calling me Ace instead. The newsboys caught on and loved that I had a name like them and word spread like a hot headline."

He grinned, "Yeah, once they tag you, you's stuck with it."

"Where did Skittery come from?"

"Why does it gotta come from somewheres?" He scowled, hating the story.

"They all have a story. Jabber can't shut up to save his soul, there was a kid called Cowboy when I was a kid, walked around New York in a cowboy hat and bandana, and another...what was his name? He had an eye patch...Winkie?"

Skittery snorted and nearly fell off the bench laughing. "Blink, Kid Blink. He's my boss at the restaurant now. The patch was all a sham to help him hide out and get some sympathy sells." Her spine straightened and she glared down at her hands. "Shit, that was not the right thing to say." He tried to think of something clever to cover with, but charm was never really his strong point. "He...he was raised in the Bronx Gang, his father was the second in command..." He didn't know what he was doing, he just hoped that if he talked enough he would talk his way into something that might save the situation. "And things went south fast and Blink ran..." _Oh shit, oh shit, Skits, what are you doing? Why are you still talking about Blink? Change the subject stupid!_ "He got away and put the eyepatch on the keep the boys from the Bronx from recognizing him, none of us knew it wasn't real until he quit selling. He had a friend, the leader's kid, and she was blind and her eyes made people uneasy, so no one looked real hard at her face, so he thought it would help him stay hidden...Jesus, Elvie, I didn't think before I said it! He's a good guy, even if I'm an idiot. And the girl he was mimicking...phew. Beth is the scariest woman to walk the streets of New York since the girl what ran Brooklyn! She don't give a shit that she's blind...she does what she wants." Her head raised and cocked to the side.

"She walks on the street? Alone?"

He wondered what she was getting at. "Sometimes. She's got a husband who walks her places sometimes, but she runs the gang and the street all on her own." He realized he needed Beth's help if this was going anywhere. Winging it and pushing her buttons until he figured her out was going to ruin whatever this little spark was that they had going. "So, ah, how come you remember Cowboy and Winkie but not me?" She smiled a little lopsided smile and he leaned in, hoping that maybe she could see him a little. "Huh? I was a looker, everybody said so. How come Skittery didn't get a spot in your memories?"

She laughed at his only partially feigned jealousy and answered smugly. "I remember Cowboy because I always thought he looked so silly, like a person in a costume for a play." When she spoke again, her voice was softer and grittier, a sound he was getting used to and recognizing as reserved for things that upset her. "And I remembered Blink because he sold on this block and I could see him out the window after...and I always felt...connected. Someone else was out there being normal and there was hope that I would too." She twisted her mouth and he wished he could soak himself. "But it was a lie, like everything else good."

He didn't know what to say to that. He felt like he just ruined any chance of this being anything. "Its Skittery because one of my first nights in the bunk house I woke up in the middle of the night to a freaking rat the size of my face sitting on my chest looking at me. It ain't like I'd never seen vermin before, I just ain't never had one sit and stare at me while I slept like it was waiting for me to croak and I jumped up screaming, hit my head on the ceiling and fell out of my bunk and hid in the washroom the rest of the night. I almost went home then and there. I threw the rat against the wall so hard when I jumped up that it died and they found it the next morning and talking about how dangerous the scaredy kid was...eventually it ended up Skittery." He raked his hair back, knowing that the embarrassment that earned him his name would never help him dig out of the big shameful hole his words dug, but that maybe, she could change her tune again if she thought he tried. She sat silent, her back straight, her jaw moving like she was chewing over the thoughts in her head. "I...I'd better get back to the Ben and leave you be," he said, standing quietly. He waited for her to reach for him, but she didn't. "Can I have your hand. I know I'm stupid, but I ain't a jerk and I won't leave you alone out here."

"Sit down, Bays," she answered in a voice little stronger than a whisper. "I'm not mad. Not at you. I'm disappointed." He tried not to let himself slump. He barely knew this girl and he was doing so good until he opened his mouth! He hated disappointing people. "I'm disappointed in myself."

He plopped down beside her and scratched his forehead. "What did you do? I'm the one who opened my big trap."

She laughed humorlessly. "You reminded me that I used to want to get out, back to normal. I used to watch...Blink, and say 'that will be me tomorrow.' But tomorrow would come and I'd still be scared and I'd put it off. Then it would get dark and in the dark, I'm pretty much all the way blind and my siblings were too young then to understand what I needed, they just would grab my hand and try to tow me around. That was scarier than not seeing in the first place. So I said I'd wait. And wait I have. And now here I am, nearly twenty one and out of my apartment for the first time in seven years. I've never made it past the stairwell before."

"How much can you see?" he asked.

She nodded her head as if she'd been expecting the question and tugged at her sleeve where her mother's hanky was tucked. "Right now? Not a thing, it's too dark." She flashed him a small grin and he chuckled with her. "In the light, though, I can see about an arm's length in front of me pretty clearly, only the little details are blurry. For another arm's length, I guess, beyond that I can make out the shapes of things, and beyond that it's all just a big scary blur."

His hand reached out, the tip of his middle finger dragging down the path of one of her scars, but detouring around her eye. Even as he was doing it he was waiting to get slapped. "What about over here?" His voice sounded strange and husky, he'd only ever heard it that way before during one of the numerous times that he'd earned the sign that old Kloppman put on the stairs. But it was different. This was different and Elvie certainly was not the same as those girls that he snuck into the Lodging House.

"Light and dark, nothing more," she answered, gently tilting away from his touch as her shoulders shuddered.

A long, low whistle rolled out of his mouth as he thought about that. She had an apartment, a business that did pretty well, took care of four younger siblings and twenty to thirty extra kids at supper time, it was an impressive resume. "And you do alla this while I ain't even got my own apartment. You make me look like a bum."

Her skin flushed, but she kept her chin up. "It's not a competition, we're all just getting by the best we can." Her lips pursed in confusion and her delicate brows pinched together in the center. "Where DO you live? You're too old for the Newsboys Lodging House..."

He laughed, "I ain't THAT pathetic! Nah, my boss who owns the hotel rents out some of the small cheap rooms on the low floors to some of us guys. Made more sense to me to live there, I mean, what do I need a whole apartment for?" He nervously rubbed his palms on his pants, not liking even the idea of the amount of responsibility involved in renting his own place and having all of the work be solely on him. "Maybe once Tumbler's ready to grow up and quit selling, maybe we'll get a place." He liked thoughts like that. He was better at taking care of someone who needed him than he was at taking care of himself. He also liked the noise of another person around, but he wasn't going to tell her that, he'd sound like a sissy. He turned his face to look at the oncoming night, the faint stars peaking out. "Did you ever look at the stars and hear the stories about the pictures in them when you was a kid." She shook her head. "Another one of my mother's country habits, she always said the stars was too dim here, but she still made everyone go up the roof every night and look up and tell us the stories." He sighed, "I guess that wouldn go against your rules. It's all lies and bullshit."

Her head tilted to the side. "I don't dislike stories," she answered quietly, her fingers still gripping at the wooden seat of the bench, "I dislike lies. So long as everyone knows that the story isn't meant to be taken as the truth, I see no harm in them. They are very effective at teaching lessons and also...I just like to hear them. We read aloud every night."

He stared at her, trying to figure her out. "And you say I'm infuriating! You's just arguing pins and needles. When it comes down to it, they's both sharp and small and hold fabric together!"

Her smile tensed, but didn't go away. "A needle has an eye that holds thread. The thread holds the fabric together long after the needle is back in the pincushion. Pins only work while they're in use. A lie weaves itself into a person's heart, mind and soul and the consequences remain long after the lie has been told. A story comes and entertains or teaches it's lesson and is put away. No one believes that Little Red Riding Hood really talked to the wolf and then was cut alive from his belly. No one believes that the sleeping beauty really slept for a hundred years and was awoken by a kiss. They are make believe." Her smile broadened and he nearly choked. Without all of the fear and concentration and rules, she was stunning. Even too skinny and pale, she lit up their little bench. "Tell me a story, Skittery."

Something inside of him slumped, and he realized, as much as he didn't like Andy telling everyone that their name was Bays and not Bayarri, he liked her calling him that. He liked a girl, a woman, calling him something besides Skittery. "I dunno Ace... I don't want you to come back tomorrow and say that I was pulling your long leg and leading you on." He waited and was rewarded with a dim smirk lifting the left side of her face.

"Please, _Bays_ ," she said his name pointedly, the smile obvious in her voice, "I'd like to hear your story about the stars." She settled her body back against the back of the bench and tilted her face upwards. "See, I'll even pretend I can see what you're talking about."

He laughed, "How about this." He moved closer to her, feeling her whole body tense up. "Easy, its just me. Sit forward a bit." She leaned forward and he slid his hip behind her and put his hands on her waist to turn her a bit so that her back was flush with his side. "Now sit all the way back." His skin was humming as her back gingerly leaned against him. "Keep going," her head rested on his shoulder, perfectly placed to look towards the heavens. "See? Now you can pretend in comfort and style." He could feel how rigid and uncomfortable she really was and desperately wanted to assure her that she was safe with him. "Awright now, no funny business while I'm telling it, I gotta concentrate." Again, that low hum of well contained laughter weaved it's way out of her and out into the warm night and he barely suppressed the shiver that zipped up his spine as she purred against his chest and shoulder. "I'ma take your hand," he warned, "but I won't bite it. Unless you bite me first." She laughed again and he grinned as her backbone started to sink and meld into his side. He wrapped her hand over the top of his, pointing his index finger and raising it to the sky. "That there," he began, tracing the imaginary lines between the stars, "is the mother bear. It looks like a ladle or a scoop, but thats because the bears from wherever had tails..."

"Bays...my imagination works fine. If you say it's a bear, its a bear." Her voice was flat, but he could hear the subtle lilt of amusement.

"Anyway, back in the dark ages when people had lots of gods, a different one for everything, the king of the gods had a mistress who he wanted to keep safe from his very jealous wife. So, he turned his girlfriend into a bear and set her free in the forest. But she and her kid, his kid, they was hunted...because they was bears, and so the god picked them up and put them in the night sky so they would be hidden from his wife, but safe from the hunters in the forest. Her little bear is riiiiiiiiiiight there." He traced the smaller constellation as well. He told her another and another, tracing the stars with their overlapped hands. He didn't want it to end, but she had kids to put to bed and more work to do and he needed to go find himself some supper. No one cared if he got back, in fact it was likely in his best interests to stay away from the hotel until he was sure that David went home to Nina. "Last one for the night and then I'll go separate my brother from your little friend."

Andy and Annabel were under a street lamp a little ways down the street necking like there was no tomorrow and Skits had a number of quips about the types of tools he might need to pry Annabel's face off of Tumbler and return him to the Lodging house thought up, but was interrupted by Elvie's soft murmur of a voice. "This was nice, Bays. I haven't been able to just sit and talk with someone without having to mother them in a long time."

"Well, I could come and just sit again. I promise not to bring anymore unwanted produce." His heart seemed to stop beating as he waited for her answer, waited for the rejection with all of his being.

She smiled gently, her small teeth flashing in the dim glow of the street light. "I think I'd like that."

He settled back, forcing himself to breathe and lifted their hands again, trying to play it cool like he didn't just sort of invite himself back to a girl's house for a visit. "Now right here," he said, pointing arbitrarily, "is the great and mighty hunter, who was woken from his slumber, by a horrible and hideous beast attacking. He sustained many injuries in the fight against this beast, while his hunting party..."

"Laughed and laughed at the way he screamed like a girl? Because the beast was in, fact, a rat in his bed, and you, my friend, are full of shit?" She had turned her head and her nose was nearly brushing his ear as she laughed her throaty little laugh. If he turned his head, their lips would touch, but he didn't. Any skill in flirtation and charm he had was gone, he couldn't bring himself to be like that with her.

So, he just grinned, "Can't put nothing past you." They slipped back into silence, but she left her head on his shoulder. Her little flyaway hairs tickled his neck and he reached up to hesitantly smooth them down. Again, she let him, tensing only slightly against him. Footsteps clapped across the cobblestones towards them, but in Manhattan, there was always someone else walking, going to work, going home. The sound seemed to pique her interest too as she sat up and turned her ear to it.

"Doug?" she called out tentatively.

"Ya brother?" he asked, her sudden unease making him antsy. She'd just started to really relax and joke with him and a certain set of footsteps brought her out of it so quickly.

The boy that stomped towards them was little more than that, but Skittery had spent to much time around the likes of Spot Conlon to not take someone who walked like that seriously, no matter how little they seemed. He pushed his long hair back again and put his arm across her shoulders as the skinny kid approached. Doug had the same delicate sort of features she had, same ashy brown hair, slight build and even the same gold rimmed glasses perched on his nose. His pointed face was cut and bruised but still had no trouble holding the scowl that he was pointing at Skittery. "What the hell Elvie? Why you all over this buster? What are you doing out here?"

She grinned and sat forward, "Doug, I'm out. I'm outside!"

The meaning seemed to skip right over eighteen year old Doug's head though, "Yeah, I can see that. Come on, it ain't safe for you to be out here." He roughly pulled her to her feet and hustled her along with an arm behind her shoulders.

"Doug, stop!" She struggled and dug her heels in and Skittery remembered what she said about being towed around being scarier than just about anything and jumped to his feet. "I'm going to fall! Please, Doug, stop pushing me!" He was just about to pull her out of her brother's grip when she shoved him herself, catching his already damaged face with one of her flailing hands. "I said stop, damnit! You don't get to manhandle me! And don't think I can't hear that you're talking like you have a split lip either! Who do you owe? Or who did you cheat? Huh?" He scowled even deeper at her, but she didn't wait for his reply. "Get your ass downstairs and get yourself cleaned up before Adrienne or Joey sees you!"

He glowered at her, turning to glare at Skittery. Annabel and Tumbler were walking back and Tumbler tucked Annabel a little bit behind him protectively. "Everything all right here?"

"What the hell, Elvie?" Doug growled out. "I'm family. Family comes first. Always."

"Douglas Anthony Gamble, don't you use Mama's words against me! You get your no good, card sharping self into the house now, or you go find somewhere else to sleep. You know the rules. I hate that you play cards, but you endanger us all when you borrow money and cheat. You don't give those lowlifes incentive to find us. You don't follow in Rob's footsteps. You're pushing it right now and you know what the outcome will be." He glared at her another minute before turning on his heel and walking away, shoving between her and Skittery. "You stay away tonight, Doug! Stay away until you decide to straighten yourself out!" she yelped.

"Fine by me!" he yelled back.

Skittery put his hand out, taking her hand again and tucking it around his elbow to carefully walk her back to her front door like her brother should have. She kept her chin tucked down, and didn't say anything. Their nice night had come to such an awkward and disappointing end. She went in and he started climbing the stairs, but at the top he turned and looked back at the door that she was starting to close. "Hey, Elvie?"

"Yes Bays?" Her soft voice purred and rippled as it climbed the stairs, that thick and gritty quality filling it.

He grinned down at her even though he knew he was little more than a blur to her. "I ain't sorry I dumped ten pounds of potatoes on ya floor. Not one bit."

Her cheeks flushed brightly. "Good night, Bays. I'm glad you came too."

"Think I can come back tomorrow and mess ya system up some more?" She nodded subtly with the faintest of smiles on her lips before closing the door. "Night Elvie." He sauntered away from the door, back towards Andy, who was watching Annabel head towards the basement apartment with a starstruck and loopy look on his face. Skits sniggered. "Them redheads is trouble, little brother. Watch yourself."

Tumbler turned his wide, dark eyes to Skits and looked him up and down, "I don't know who the hell you are or why you look just like my asshole big brother, but keep treating Elvie the way you just did. Ace deserves something good in her life, there's been too may people like Doug around her."

Skittery stared hard at his brother, wondering where a street raised sixteen year old got that kind of depth. "One is too many," he agreed, shoving his hair back again. "Its hard to treat her any way other than right."

Andy quirked a dark brow at him and smirked. "Speaking of trouble..."

Skittery smiled, "Women is all trouble. The lot of 'em."

 _ **A/N: Trouble we are and trouble we shall always be. So what do you think of Skits and Elvie? I kinda love them. I'm not really sure what is coming next! I have a very general plan for this story but I'm just sort of taking it as they throw it at me. It might be that Skits goes to get some advice from the Bronx...or it might be that we get to meet the Gamble patriarch again. Not sure. Yet...**_


	6. Chapter 6

Getting Blink to agree to take him to the Bronx cost him a promise to be acting shift leader to show David that the was the hard worker that Blink wanted to promote, not the prat that David wanted to fire. Getting Beth to agree to showing him the ropes of befriending a blind person was far more costly. He went into the basement of Keenan's Bar his head swimming with the stories of Beth Bailey, only daughter of the infamous Barkers Bailey, and now leader of the Bronx Gang. He knew that she was not to be messed with. What he didn't expect was to walk into the basement where she held court, so to speak and find her cradling and nursing a newborn. Her husband, Brendon Finnegan, Blink's brother in law, leaned over and murmured in her ear as they came in and her face lit up with a knowing smirk. "Tommy," she greeted, "what brings you home?" When Blink just stood there, slack jawed and bug eyed for a few seconds, Brendon cleared his throat and Beth, seeming to understand what that particular little fraction of a sound meant twisted her face into a scowl, "Its a tit, Tommy. A tit with a baby on it, pull yourself together. What are you doing so far from home?" So quickly she changed her tune it could make a guy's head spin. Her men's shirt was opened to let the baby suckle, with a black silk ribbon tied at her neck in a bow where a man would wear a tie.

Blink did as he was told and straightened up before saying, "Got a buddy needed a favor from you."

She sneered, "My favors don't come free of charge," as she crossed her legs, her wide legged trousers shifting. Her clothes were not in fashion, but at the same time a fashion all her own. The practicality of menswear that she needed to keep from tripping and getting caught up, but with little feminine touches.

Blink pushed Skittery forward and nodded towards the raven haired, empty eyed beauty on the throne in front of them. "There's this girl..." he stammered, suddenly feeling like he was in the company of Spot Conlon and Trout Cooper with the way Brendon stood behind her glowering while she sat with a pious look on her face, knowing, for a fact, that she owned this situation. Those Brooklyn boys were dangerous when they wanted to be and Skittery was getting the feeling that Beth and Brendan could wipe out the city of New York together if they wanted to.

She tsked her tongue and curled her lip as she brushed her dark curls over her shoulder and out of her way, "Its always about a girl with you morons. Can't any of you keep it in your pants?" Brendon put his hand on her shoulder which seemed to smooth her hackles down a bit. "I ain't a witch; I ain't got a love potion tucked in my garters, boys."

"She's a girl like you...". Skittery could feel how badly that statement could come back to bite him in the ass as soon as it left his lips.

She grinned and easily popped the now sleeping babe off her chest. Brendon took him without a word and went about burping and soothing the small person back to sleep. Beth righted her clothes and cocked her head to the side, and he knew she was listening to him squirm. "Like me, you say. So, she's stunning? Powerful? Loud mouthed and bossy? What is it about her that made you think of me?"

"Beth," Blink admonished. "Don't be..."

"Don't be what, Tommy? A bitch? Not gonna happen in this lifetime. Who is this idiot? And what made you think I'd help him?"

"Because you's got a heart inside there, Bethie, a good one, and you wouldn't want a blind girl stuck inside her apartment because she's too afraid to go outside," Blink answered with a roll of his blue eyes. "Skittery wants to help her, but he needs you to help him to know how."

That statement obviously piqued her interest and Skits took her silence as an invitation to speak. "One side she can't see nothing and the other she can't really see much past her hand. She's got so many rules and I keep breaking them and screwing things up without meaning to. I need rules that I understand, ones that make sense to me sos I won't break 'em trying to figure it out."

Blink sniggered at that. "Like you'd follow 'em anyway."

"If I want a chance with her, I gotta." Blink looked more shocked than when he was staring at his childhood friend's breast, staring at Skittery, asking for rules to follow. Skits turned back to Beth. "I told her about you, the way you run your neighborhood and these guys and she got this look on her face." he could picture it clearly, the look of awe, that connection that she felt she lost with Blink that she held onto all those years on her face. "She wanted it, and I want it for her. She wanted to walk around like you do with nothing but a cane. You can help me make it happen for her."

She scowled in Blink's general direction, "That's low, Knight, calling me that," she growled. He blew some air out of his lips and waived her off. She seemed to understand the dismissal of her blustering and turned back to Skittery. "You think you want freedom for her? To take a poor girl who ain't got nothing, who could be totally dependent on you, who never leaves and couldn't see it even if you was kissing another dame right outside her bedroom window and give her some independence? You sure about that, Guy?" Her words were like poison and ate away at him. She thought he just wanted to take advantage. "Fine, you want a day in the life, sure. We'll go take a walk, see what you think when we's through. See if this is really something you want to be saddled with." She stood abruptly and stomped out of the basement, her men parting for her like the Red Sea for Moses. Blink went back to the hotel, not wanting to see one friend humiliate the other.

Out in the streets of the Bronx, she berated him constantly as they walked and Skittery's nerves were about shot after the hundredth or so rap to his shins with her cane that she used to check for obstacles in her path. She held his elbow like Elvie had, but where Elvie clung to him, Beth's grip was disdainful at best. They both knew that she didn't need him to lead her and it made the whole situation tense and awkward. It didn't help that Brendon followed closely behind them like an overprotective Bull Mastiff, ready to pull Skittery's arms from his body and beat him with them. Baby Seamus slept in his arms, but Skittery was pretty sure that the wall of Irish flesh could rip him apart without ever waking the infant.

Seventeen blocks later, when his shins felt like beef carpaccio and he was starting to limp, she gave him one final hard thwack and he fell to the sidewalk. She stood above him with a indecipherable look on her face. "You really mean it," she said quietly. "You ain't just looking for a quick and easy lay. You really give a shit about this girl."

"What finally clued you in?" he grunted and took the hand Brendon offered down to help him up, wincing as he took weight on his legs again.

She grinned, only it wasn't a predator's grin this time, but a kind womanly one, and reached out for his arm. "I figure sex, no matter how good, is only worth six blocks. By ten I made up my mind. The last seven were just to see how long you'd last." He groaned and she laughed at him. "Gotta say, Skittery, I'm very impressed. So let's go see your girl."

He found himself scowling at the sound of his newsie name rolling out in her overly loud voice. He had a taste of a woman calling him something else and liked it. "It's Albert." He smiled a bit. "Albert or Bays."

Her lips and brows puckered in confusion. "Bays?"

"Short for Bayarri, Albert Bayarri. Either one will do. Nice to meet you, your majesty."

She smiled and squeezed his arm, "Beth will do just fine. Never Bethie. Tommy is going to feel my foot in his ass for pulling that earlier." She fumed a few more minutes before shaking it off. "Well, we best be on our way. Lower East, right?" Much to Beth's displeasure, Skittery begged to take the trolley and give his aching legs a chance to rest. She only relented when Brendon suggested she hold the baby on the ride. Watching a woman who just beat his shins to a bloody pulp coo at a chubby baby was surreal.

They hopped off together a few blocks from Hester street and made their way to the corner of Hester and Ludlow. The closer they got to the apartment, the more Skittery started to sweat. Elvie wasn't going to want all of these extra people inside and Brendon, with his deep voice and huge size would scare her to death. "You two wait out here. Lemme go in and butter her up first." Even after saying it, it didn't surprise him in the slightest that Beth was right behind him as he descended the stairs to the apartment. Brendon, of course, stayed put, but was more likely to be keeping watch than listening to a word Skittery said. Halfway down he called out like Andy did the night before. "Knock knock, Elvie. It's Bays." He and Beth reached the door and Beth reached out to touch it. He found himself cataloguing all of the strange little touches and taps that seemed to be the key to her knowing her world so well. From what he had seen, Elvie reached for people. Beth reached to feel what else was there. For the first time, he noticed the black and gold tipped cane in her hand beyond its propensity to hurt when brandished against his shins and smiled at yet another similarity between her and Spot. "Elvie?" He knocked lightly.

"Bays?" came her quiet answer.

"Yeah, Elv, it's me. I gotta friend here who wants to meet you. Can you open the door for us?"

Beth's face darkened as she listened to Elvie. "No one should be that scared in her own house," she growled lowly.

Skittery agreed as they listened to Elvie start to shuffle around. "I have work to do, Bays. It's really not a good time."

"Yeah, well, I ain't man enough to tell Beth no. She said 'take me to see Elvie,' so I done it."

Beth sniggered, "That's right you did."

He leaned his forehead against the door. "You don't have to let me in, I know you don't like me in there. If you don't want to you don't have to let either of us in, but come talk to us."

"Is there anyone else?" Elvie asked in a tiny whisper through the crack in the door.

"Beth's husband Brendon is at the top of the stairs, but he'll stay there. Don't even worry about him." He sighed and brushed his fingertips against the wooden door, hoping with everything he had that she would at least let Beth in.

The lock turned, "You...you can both come in," she said, her voice shaking. Beth took his elbow and they entered together.

"Take me for a tour, Bays," Beth ordered loudly, cocking her head to the side as if she was listening to how the sound carried in the room. She touched everything either with her cane or her hand while Elvie cowered against the door. "Bays tells me its you and four kids living here." Beth's voice made Elvie cringe, and when the black haired gang leader started sweeping around on her own, with more tapping of her cane and brushing things with her fingertips, Elvie watched her dark form in horror. "So how come none of them takes you out to walk or teaches you nothing about your neighborhood or how to get around? How did you let yourself get cooped up in here?" Her tone was sharp and accusatory. "You still got one eye thats worth something, so what are you hiding from?"

"Beth, easy," Skittery warned, watching Elvie's face turn red. Her thin lip trembled and his heart fell to the floor.

"No! I wanna know why it took a complete stranger coming in off the street for her to come out! I want to know why anyone would let themself be so caged in by fear that they couldn't go out and enjoy the sunlight." Beth was a dog with a bone and couldn't let it go. Without having to watch Elvie's face as the words tore her down, there was nothing stopping her tirade. Only when Elvie's soft sobs filtered across the space did she stop.

He went to Elvie, cupping her elbow with his hand that felt like it could wrap twice around her frail arm while she cried and covered her face. She looked up and he wanted to soak himself. "Why would you bring her?" she asked. "Just to tell me how bad I'm doing?" She let him pull her glasses from her face and tuck them into his vest pocket. She let him pull her hanky out of her sleeve and wipe her face. But most shockingly, she let him pull her into his chest and hold her.

"No, Doll," Beth answered for him, her voice tender and gentle. "That was all me. This one..." she shuffled over and found his arm, patting it nearly affectionately, "all he wanted was to help you. He let me beat on him for seventeen blocks in your name." Elvie turned those soft, velvety blue eyes up on him. "Take me where we can sit and talk." Elvie broke away from his embrace, closing her eyes and going to her little stool in her work area and sitting in it, leaving him to lead Beth to one of the dusty armchairs in the room. Beth, having painted herself a mental picture of the room while walking around, knew that the two chairs were together and assumed that Elvie sat in the other, but was proven wrong when there was no one there to reach for. "Elvie?" she called.

"Over here," the lace maker called back, still sniffling.

Beth let out a harsh sigh and patted the armrest of the chair. "Come sit with me. I like to be able to touch the people I'm talking to, lets me know they ain't snuck away." Elvie sat for a minute, seeming to digest that information, before getting up and gingerly, uneasily perching on the smallest amount of the remaining armchair as she could. "Whose chairs are these?" Beth asked, narrowing her eyes. "You don't like sitting here."

Elvie shifted uncomfortably. "That's none of your business." She folded her hands in her lap and kept her eyes closed. Skittery longed to tell her to open them and face the world, face him.

Beth grinned at the girl for taking a stand. "No, it ain't." She reached over and found Elvie's back, rubbing it gently. The narrow girl bowed her shoulders till it seemed like she would fold in half and disappear. As Beth's sensitive fingered ran over Elvie's dress she sat up straighter and leaned in, her face taking on the fierce look she had earlier. "How did this happen?" she demanded, her fingers drawing lines up Elvie's back. "Bays, do you know about this?" Her hands followed whatever she was feeling up Elvie's back and onto her neck feeling the scars, even more of them than the obvious ones on her face. Beth traced along around Elvie's throat and up across her scalp, the gang leaders breath coming in short gasps as she felt the brutal lashes. "Turn around," she ordered. Elvie complied and Beth continued her mapping of the lines that seemed to cover her from top to bottom. "I know what did this," Beth growled. "I know what makes marks like that and I only know of one type of man who would use it. Who were you in debt to?"

Elvie's slight frame jolted upwards, "I don't owe anyone anything! Not ever! My father is the bum who takes out money from anyone stupid enough to give it to him. Who are you to barge into my house and demand to know things about me? You don't know me! You don't know what he put me through! You don't get to come here and tell me where to sit and how I should live! No one does! This is my house and my rules and you can get out!" Her words rocketed her out of the chair until she was standing over Beth screaming at her. Part of Skittery wanted to rush forward and protect her from the strong woman she was screaming at, but another was cheering her on for fighting her own battle.

Beth managed to sit still and look serene while Elvie screamed. When the smaller brunette had quieted, Beth sat forward in her chair and felt for a hand. "Feels good to get that out don't it? How old were you when it happened?"

"I said get out," Elvie gritted through her teeth, using every ounce of strength she had to not cry and pulling her hand away.

"I don't care." Her voice was low and even, leaving no room for argument. She grabbed Elvie's arm, moving her hand down until she found a hand again and gripped it tightly. "See, that's part of your problem. Everyone pities you, poor little Elvie, all alone in her apartment. They've let you build up this world that you are master and commander of...but the thing is, Toots, is that its complete bullshit. You are in charge of nothing. You control nothing. You hold on to the reins inside this apartment so tightly because somewhere inside of you, you know that. I ain't leaving. You have to put up with me until I'm ready to go. And your pal, Bays, he's gonna take you out when he wants. He's going to bring friends to meet you and you're going to have to deal with that. With meeting new people and figuring them out with only a voice and a touch of a hand to figure them out. You're going to have to stop telling yourself that everyone is going to hurt you and start telling yourself that if it happens, you are strong enough to deal with it."

Skittery took the silence as the two sightless women faced off to kneel next to Elvie, "Eyes open, Vie. Face it, tell her off. Don't hide."

Elvie opened her eyes and squinted at Beth, trying to see her unaided. "I was twelve and they tied me to a girder on my knees and my father watched while they whipped me." He felt sick to his stomach with anger at the thought of anyone hurting her, but especially at her father standing aside and let her take the punishment for his debts. "I hate them for what they did! And I hate my father for being the cause of it!"

"I can only imagine," Beth said gently. "I was five. I just woke up one day to darkness. My pop had no clue what to do with me, but living like we did, he knew I couldn't be helpless. Especially not after Tommy ran away. Pop used to drag me around the city, making me memorize the number of steps between street corners, memorizing the street names in the order they came until I cried. When I cried he'd leave me there and tell me to get myself home. I got a map of a good part of Manhattan right here because of him," she said tapping her temple. "My father was a bum and crazy to boot, but thats one thing I can say he did right. He made sure I knew I was at a disadvantage and it made me strong. I can go anywhere and do anything, and I ain't scared of it. I can face it because of him. Someone should have done that for you." She smiled, that soft womanly smile that looked so entirely out of place on her hard as nails, scowling face. "I think maybe you got that now in me and Bays, whether you like it or not. I can't promise nothing, my business ain't exactly on a schedule," she lit up with a daring grin, "but I'll try to make it out this way every few weeks. In between, your Bays can get you started, get your glasses checked and help you find a cane. You've got to find a way to make your own way around, you can't count on other people. People, all people if they's smart, takes care of number one first," she held her index finger up and then pointed it at her heart. "You gotta be able to look out for your own number one, you can't expect anyone else to. Thats how you end up not leaving your apartment for seven years." She furrowed her dark brow in disapproval. "Next time I come, we'll walk. Just us girls." Seamus was beginning to fuss and Elvie's hands were just about rubbed raw with her nervous fiddling. Beth excused herself and left the two new friends together.

"What'ya think?" he asked quietly, taking his hand from where he'd been sitting on the floor at her feet.

She was silent a moment, her eyes traveling all over the room. "You really let her hurt you for seventeen blocks?"

He grinned, "Yup, and I'd go another seventeen with her if it meant I could walk you through Central Park or take you to my work." She smiled, a beautiful pink flush making her skin glow. "Just promise me that once you get a cane you won't whack me with it."

She smiled and looked almost cheeky, making him wonder what kind of crazy outgoing woman she might have been if she hadn't been so damaged at twelve years old by the man whose job it was to protect her. "You're entirely too ornery for promises like that."

He stood and pressed a chaste peck of a kiss to her forehead and felt his stomach light up with sparks as a soft, breathy sigh left her lips at the feeling. "I'll be back in a few hours to help you with supper for all your little alley cats. Did I do ok when I came in this time?"

She smiled sadly and closed her powder blue eyes again. "You were so perfect that I might cry when this turns out badly. You're like a white knight in my mother's fairy tales."

"Thats the last thing I am," he said, raking his hair back. "I'm just a screw up who you impressed into wanting to be more than just a screw up. Maybe its just a little run of good luck for both of us, maybe its more. I dunno, Vie, but I wanna keep coming back and figure that out. If thats ok with you?" She nodded, but he could see the doubt still lingering on her face. Her life taught her that nothing good ever came and the rare times they did, they were taken away quickly. She had no doubt that he could be good for her, he could see it in the hope on her face, but she was never going to stop expecting a swift kick in the ass from life soon after. "I'll see ya later tanight, Elvie."

Late that night, when he got back from helping her hand out soup and biscuits, letting Auggie eat a hot supper for the first time in years, he couldn't sleep. His body was restless and full of energy. He had so many plans for places to take her and pulled his old walking stick from his newsie days and his pen knife out from under his bed. His father had been a carpenter by trade and the plan was always for young Albert to sell newspapers for a few years until he was old enough to be apprenticed and then he'd work in the same shop his father did, but his father put it off year after year and then disappeared. But before Skits left, and in the beginning when he still went home regularly, his father taught him a lot about carving the intricate designs that he did in the evening hours when they were all home together. He held the stick, feeling it's weight. He always liked it because it had some heft to it and made him look like he shouldn't be messed with. Good traits for a newsboy, not so great for a blind girl who looked like a stiff breeze could carry her away. A quick trip to the hotel basement where David stored all of the tools and such that he used when he was building the hotel up from the ground for a few extra tools and some sandpaper and he was back in his room and hard at work. He carved it down a bit and by lamplight drew out a rough design of what he wanted to whittle away, just like his father showed him. When the grey light of dawn crept through his window, he put it away. He had to work the lunch shift, and if he was going to be the shift leader he couldn't be asleep on his feet. So he set his alarm and tucked himself into bed to sleep until ten and when his eyes opened again to the little bell, he smiled as his eyes fell on the cane and the cluster of raspberries that he had formed the head of it into.

 _A/N: I forgot my thank yous! A huge thank you as always goes to Joker for loaning me Beth and Brendon. To see more of them you need to read Blink's story, Desperate Measures, on Joker is Poker with a J's profile. Beth is an amazing anti heroine who I love taking for a spin. She lets me say all the salty feminist things that I think but don't always say._

 _Thank you to coveredinbees14 for reviewing!_

 _And thank you to my guest reviewer! I'm glad you're loving Skits and Elvie! I'm loving your reviews!_


	7. Chapter 7

Everything about Beth Finnegan rattled every loose, wobbly nerve in Elvie's small anxious body, yet she couldn't help but like the gruff, brazen, outspoken woman. She never had friends beyond girls she talked to in the schoolyard. Beth wasn't nice but she was kind and she didn't chat but she listened. She didn't prattle like Annabel did, and she was sometimes so forward that she brought Elvie to tears without meaning to, but she was always honest. She'd been given the wrong change and had her face lied to just because people saw her clouded eyes and thought they could get away with it too many times. She demanded the truth. She demanded lots of things and people learned quickly that she didn't tolerate being ignored any more gently than she tolerated being lied to. The feeling of kinship seemed to be mutual though, Elvie realized as the brass finial on her friend's cane rapped heavily on the front door of the basement apartment. It was the Finnegan's fourth visit to the Lower East Side in the two weeks since Bays introduced the girls. "Adrienne, open the door before she has that man knock it down."

While Elvie had warmed to Beth despite her temper and her lack of any sort of a filter, the same could not be said for Brendon. She knew he was dangerous, and while she also knew he wouldn't hurt her neither bit of knowledge really helped her get used to his looming presence. Adrienne put aside her work and stood up. "His name is Brendon," the eleven year old scolded, "and he's very nice." The slight squeeze in her voice every time she talked about Beth's husband made Elvie wonder if maybe her baby sister didn't have a bit of a schoolgirl crush.

Bays took her to an eye doctor a few days after he introduced her to Beth when he noticed that both lenses in her glasses had a prescription to them. Her secret, that she couldn't make herself go out when she noticed her vision in her good eye blurring so she just took a pair of Doug's old glasses and made do, came to light. He didn't scold her, just knocked the next morning, put a cane in her hand and walked her to an optician uptown. The doctor told her that Doug's glasses were doing more harm than good and that she should stop wearing them. She adapted easily to her whole world being a blur, to doing everything blind and to being led everywhere outside of her home, but today was the day she would pick her new glasses up.

Adrienne opened the door and Beth stepped past her with a quiet murmur to the girl. After being alone most of her life, Beth seemed to soak up the company of Elvie's siblings, creating a close bond with Adrienne especially. "C'mon, Vie," Beth snapped impatiently, tugging Adrienne to her side, "time to see the world again."

"Hold your horses," Elvie muttered, "some of us have respectable businesses to maintain." She carefully pinned off the first sleeve of the wedding dress and set her cushion aside as Beth chuckled.

"I got lots of respectable businesses," she answered with a wicked lilt in her voice as she tapped her cane on the stone floor. "How else d'ya think I keep the bulls off my back?" Elvie stood and moved easily across the small room to put her modest straw hat on, pinning it carefully, and reached for the cane that Bays gave her, the rough carved surface of the head of it catching her fingertips. "By all means, take all day. You know how much waiting for your meticulous ass thrills me." Beth's dry wit quirked the corner of Elvie's mouth. "It ain't my glasses we's going to pick up, so please, lets just stand in your crummy apartment all day."

Elvie scowled. "I don't remember inviting you to come with me," she retorted saucily. "You're welcome to stand around in my crummy apartment, or, heaven forbid, your own crummy apartment and not join me."

Beth cackled. "You get mouthier every damn time and I love it. Who knew there was a fat fucking lip under all that mousy meekness." She patted Adrienne affectionately on the head while the girl tried to stifle a giggle at her older friend's fowl language.

"Ladies, got a carriage waiting," Brendon called from the top of the stairs. She shuddered lightly, trying to holster her fear of the gentle giant who followed small, sharp Beth everywhere she went.

Beth's voice came out soft and quiet, "You gonna be ok in a carriage with him?"

"Fine," Elvie answered in a whisper. "I'll be fine."

She stood, letting her fingers brush over the bumps and swirls on the head of the cane while she tried to calm herself. She was terrified, but somehow it felt like calm washed over her when she held it. Every time Beth insisted that she walk or let Brendon in without thinking, she ran her fingers through the familiar channels and protrusions and felt the ability to breathe come back to her. "C'mon, c'mon! You'd think you wasn't excited about ya first pair of glasses that's just for you! Who knows, maybe you won't be so blind. Maybe you won't even need all the knowledge I have so graciously bestowed upon you."

Elvie laughed quietly. "In a modest mood, are we?" She held her hand out and Adrienne ducked under it, so it rested on her shoulder and they climbed the stairs together.

A tense and silent carriage ride later, they were outside the Lexington Avenue office, where the kind older man tucked her glasses over her ears and told her to open her eyes. She took a deep breath in and did as he asked. It was strange and disorienting to suddenly see again and wasn't the life altering moment that Beth and Adrienne were hoping for. She was still blind on the right, of course, and the bubble of things she could see with glasses wasn't really any bigger than before, but what was inside the bubble was much clearer. She felt her heart quicken as her panic went from nothing to worrying about every shape in the perimeter of her vision, her head swiveling wildly to try to keep watch on all of it. Her hands had nothing to grip so they fiddled and wrung in her lap. "Vie, talk to us," Beth demanded, seeming to hear Elvie's wild thoughts and hummingbird heart.

"I need..." her voice was a raspy whisper, and her fingers clawed so frantically that she nearly cried out in pain. "I need my cane please."

"You've got me," Adrienne murmured, taking her hand. At first the panic told her that the touch was worse than walking into cobwebs, but Adrienne refused to be shook off and held fast until Elvie calmed. "Look at me, Elvie. Tell me you can see me."

She forced herself to obey, turning her head while her shoulders still danced up and down trying to shake off the tingle but it lingered eerily. She looked carefully at her sister, a wobbling smile spreading across her face. There were freckles on Adrienne's nose that she never knew were there. Her hand darted out wanting to touch Adrienne's cheek, but her knuckles rammed into the poor girl's soft skin long before it seemed to her that she should have been so close. Adrienne jumped back, and for the first time, Elvie's ability to read facial expressions wasn't limited to watching eyebrows move up and down and dark lips in pale faces curve. She could see well enough to see the hurt on Adrienne's face and the pink of a bruise blooming out from under her hand.

"You're going to need time to get a feel for judging distance," the doctor said gently, while Adrienne cradled her marred cheek. She looked back at Elvie with a smile and guided her sister's hand forward slowly until it was cupping her face.

"Look at you," Elvie murmured. "You look just like Mama." Her fingers caressed her sister's soft skin as her eyes and fingers and brain all worked together, trying to make sense of the person in front of her. She was only four when Elvie was injured, five or six when she started to notice that her vision was getting weak in her other eye. "Same curls, same hazel eyes. Same freckles. How did I not know you were so beautiful?" Adrienne's eyes shined as she tried not to cry from the compliments, but they were all true. She shook her dark hair that was a much deeper brown than Elvie's around her face to cover her tears. Sometime, while Elvie slaved away in the basement, just trying to keep a roof over their head and clothes on them, Adrienne started to grow up. She was the same age Elvie was when she became the matriarch of the family, and here Adrienne was, leading her blind big sister all over Manhattan, all while going to school and helping with the family business. She was so strong, and Elvie felt terrible for stealing her childhood. "I've missed so much of you." She marveled at the changes until Adrienne moved away from her and moved towards the large dark topped mountain in the room that Elvie could only assume to be Brendon.

"You'll still need this," the doctor said as he went to the umbrella rack near the door where Elvie stowed her cane when they came in, and she was able to follow his movement. The textured top of her cane fell into her open fingers and she traced the now familiar grooves with a loud breath of relief as that sense of comfort washed over her. "The bottom of your lenses are for reading and for work," the doctor said. She looked down through the inset glass and drew in a sharp breath. What was just texture under fingers was a cluster of raspberries complete with leaves and flowers, intricately carved and sanded. Down the handle was nipped and cut to look like lace. The longer she looked, the more her vision clouded until tears ran down her pale cheeks. "It's lovely," he said, handing her a hanky. "Someone put a lot of time into that. Signed it too." He pointed, and Elvie peered out of the reading lenses in her bifocals at an intricate Celtic heart knot with letters in the middle. "E.G. + A.B." She ran her calloused fingers over the carving and wiped her eyes and nose. She never would have felt that far down, she wouldn't have known it was there if she didn't see it.

"This must have cost him a fortune," she whispered, still dabbing at her eyes. "He shouldn't have gotten something so extravagant." She couldn't stop touching the silky soft surface and letting her fingers dip into the grooves and valleys. Everything was so expertly cut and sanded that nothing caught at her fingertips.

"It didn't cost him a penny. He made it," Beth said, her face amused. "It's his walking stick from when he was a newsboy, he carved it down just for you."

She looked over to her friend with her brows knitted. "How do you know that?"

Beth smirked and Brendon chuckled as Beth held her hand out towards the wall of man who Elvie assumed was still comforting her sister. "Aide...g'head. Tell her what you been up to." Adrienne stepped forward until she could tell her sister's eyes were following her and blushed as she looked at Elvie's confused face.

"Joey's been selling up here most days so he can keep Bays in the loop on days he can't come see us and I go see Beth after school and Brendon makes me pancakes while I tell him and Beth what going on."

"What do you mean you tell them what's going on? Nothing is going on." While she wanted to be mad at them for keeping something from her, she found that she wasn't.

Beth moved closer, gently finding Elvie's shoulder, "You's with me now. I wanna know before something is going on." It had been ages since anyone cared about her enough to check on her. She'd been so alone with nothing but her rules and her white knuckle grip on her work, her apartment and her siblings. It was all that kept her going, but it was pushing Doug away and straight into the same life that nearly killed her. How long until Auggie pushed back, or Adrienne? How long till Joey stopped coming home because her way left no room for him to breathe? Beth's fingers dug in again, pulling her mind back into the doctor's office. "Bays wants to know that you ain't in a panic. He's a schmuck, that one, but a good schmuck."

"I still don't understand why either one of you feels like I need to be checked up on." She didn't like being thought of as weak, even if it was painfully true.

"Me? Because for some reason your slow poke, stick in the mud personality has grown on me," Beth said with a smirk on her heart shaped face, "and because you's about as tough as a baby bunny. And Bays? You really don't know?"

"It's right there, Elvie," Adrienne said, pointing at the carved heart on the bottom of the cane. She put her hand over the heart and the initials in it and sat with that a moment. She knew there was something there, she'd known it since the first night and even more so when he decided to bring Beth to help her, but this was big, and she wasn't sure what she did to deserve it. No one had ever loved her who wasn't supposed to because they were family. No one who she didn't take care of.

"Seventeen blocks, Gamble," Beth said. "Seventeen blocks and shins that is still black and blue. I knew it then and there."

The doctor cleared his throat and she looked back to him, wobbling as she tried to keep what she could see in focus. Her stomach turned a bit and the old man smiled apologetically. "You should just wear the glasses in the house until you've gotten the hang of judging distance and looking back and forth between the two lenses or you're likely to make yourself a little seasick." She pulled them off and sighed in relief as she tucked them into a case and then her pocket. She found being sightless almost comforting, for some reason, her brain could relax when it wasn't trying to decipher what every lumpy blob around her was and what kind of threat it posed. "The lenses will improve your vision, but not enough to put you back into a normal range."

"So I'm still blind." His hesitation was all the answer she needed, but she wasn't sad. She had more to work with and people who cared enough to get her to see that. Regardless, she was in a better place than she was two weeks prior.

She thanked the kind doctor and smiled as the wooden raspberries and their flowers pressed against the inside of her wrist. That familiar warmth and comfort assuring her that she could keep going. Back out in the street, Beth was already climbing into the carriage again but Elvie didn't want to go home yet. "Your turn," Adrienne said, walking towards the carriage with her sister's hand on her shoulder.

But she stayed in her spot, letting Adrienne out of her reach, floating in the grey, swirling abyss of her city. "I need to go see Bays," she said quietly and heard the other three pause. "I had no idea he made this just for me and I want to see him and thank him."

"Beth," Brendon rumbled, "we gotta get back."

She reached out into the air and a big calloused hand caught it, but she didn't have time for her fear of Brendon. She let him pull her close to the carriage door until she could hear the sweet grunts of a happily nursing baby. "Beth, I need to see him. If there were a way for you to see Bren and he couldn't go with you to get it, you'd go straight to where he was after, wouldn't you?"

"In a heartbeat," came the soft answer from inside the carriage. "Does this mean you understand now? Why he'd care?"

She chuckled quietly, "Not at all. It just means that I'd do the same for him if I could."

"I can take her," Adrienne answered, shoving herself in between Brendon and Elvie, giving her sister something to anchor herself to. "It's only a few blocks. I know where I'm going and Bays will make sure we get home."

"We will make sure we get home," Elvie said, holding her chin up.

Beth laughed, "All right, but Adrienne? Don't think I don't know you's snuggled up to my husband. Bren ain't good enough for a girl like you. He likes to steal kisses and never learns his lesson. You need to find a smarter one than I did." The skin Elvie could feel through Adrienne's dress grew hot and she had to stifle a laugh. A big hand fell on her shoulder and she stiffened.

"Ya shoah you'll be ok?" he asked.

"We won't know if we never try," she answered bravely but trying to wiggle out of his grip. "You two get back and take care of the things I don't want to know about." His low laugh rumbled through his arm and into hers before he gave her a soft squeeze and climbed into the cab to head back to their territory. She let out a sigh of relief and put her cane out, sliding her hand up Adrienne's neck to pull the girl in to kiss her hair. "Let's go kiddo."

It only took a few blocks for Adrienne to start to squirm. "You're hurting me!" she whined.

"Where are we, Aide?" Elvie asked in a trembling whisper, doing nothing to loosen her grip. She only had a shaky grasp on the streets around her apartment, but she was miles from her neighborhood.

"Three more blocks," Adrienne grunted, trying to work her way out of the iron grip on her shoulder. "You're supposed to be counting your steps so you know where we are, remember? You start counting again when we step up the curb." Elvie was too confused and nervous about going to see Bays, about why she needed to. She was too lost, too out of her element to count so she just blew air out through her lips and felt Adrienne stiffen. "You know, Beth says I can ditch you when you're rude to me."

She huffed, Beth would tell her that. "Don't threaten me with Beth's life lessons, Missy." She squeezed even more tightly. "If you leave me here you can start finding your own food."

"Fine," the girl said airily. "Then you can deal with Annabel's lessons all on your own." She shrugged, and Elvie could feel the smug smirk radiating from the eleven year old's very pores, knowing she had her older sister beat, knowing that Elvie could not take Annabel's enthusiasm without Adrienne in the room as a buffer. Elvie grinned and rolled her eyes, wondering how she missed the amount of sass Aide gained while visiting Beth everyday. Her grip relaxed, giving her sister the trust she had earned, and felt the muscle under her hand loosen as well, until they came to a stop in a warm, sour smelling place where Adrienne told her to put her glasses on. The door in front of them in the smelly alley was nondescript, but the sign on it made her heart skip.

 **The Benjamin Hotel Service Entrance, Ring Bell for Deliveries.**

 _A/N: sometimes you just know._

 _Elvie's vision is modeled after my cousin. Some of us super old, original Newsie fangirls will remember the Pogoball from the 90's. It was like a basketball, but with a plastic deck around it making it look like Saturn. You stood on the deck and jumped like a pogo stick. My cousin is one of the many reasons you don't see this toy anymore. He was bouncing in his garage and launched himself face first into a bike that was hanging from the ceiling, damaging his eye to the point of blindness. As he grew up, the vision in his other eye naturally worsened and he was deemed legally blind. Modern lenses meant that he could still function nearly normally, much more easily than our girl E, and he got lasik and now is only blind in the one eye. I know, I know, cool story bro..._

 _Anyway, let me know what you think! Beth has decided that she and Elvie are besties, and even as the writer, I can't tell Beth what to do. She does what she wants. Please keep reviewing! I love all the feedback this story is getting! It's so refreshing to see the fandom come back to life!_

 _Thank you to Joker is Poker with a J, annonymous guest reviewer and Hannah Emily Bunker for your lovely reviews and for all of the follows and favorites in the past week! Remeber, the fandom only comes back and we only become a community if we review each other's work! I'm doing my best to remember to do it too!_


	8. Chapter 8

Elvie reached out to touch the door, her brain staining to learn where she was in the world, but it opened before her fingers could brush the surface. The blond man scowled at Adrienne, but his blue eyes seemed to twinkle playfully. "Oh no," he declared, waving a finger at her sister, " I ain't got the budget for you to keep hanging around here. It's bad enough that I'm feeding ya brothah and that blabbermouth friend of his three times a week, but you'll put this hotel outta business. You go home and eat ya sistah outta house and home."

Elvie looked down at Adrienne and nearly grinned. She was glaring back at the man, her hands on her hips and her face disdainful. She rolled her eyes and slouched sideways popping her hip out. "Where's Skits?" she asked boredly. "My sister wants to see him. And it was your idea to challenge me, not my fault you didn't make a smart bet."

Elvie's hand knew it's way right to the girl's ear with or without sight and she grabbed it, pinching hard. "Betting, Adrienne?" she spat, anger boiling in her gut. "We don't bet money and we don't lie..."

"It was my idea," he interrupted. His eyes were serious and kind as they met hers. "She was being polite, not wanting to take the food I offered her, so I bet her a slice a cake she couldn't finish the whole plate." She peered at him trying to bring his face into better focus, but was too far away. Her hand dropped from Adrienne's ear and she stepped closer, never taking her eyes off of his until she was so close that her cane hit the doorjamb he stood in. "H'lo Elvie," he said quietly, not seeming at all uncomfortable with how close she was.

"You know me?" she asked.

His grin was wide and honest, toothy and purely friendly. "Well, you got no problem putting Baby Beth here in her place, you got that stick that Skits was working on and Beth ain't shut up about you for two weeks, don't take no genius to put them facts together."

"Baby Beth?" she coughed in laughter.

He grinned as Adrienne hunched her shoulders and hid her face in her long dark hair. "Ya got a pistol on ya hands in that one." He held his hand out, "I'm Blink, or Thomas, don't matter to me which one."

Her hand reached out until the fabric of his pressed shirt brushed her fingers. The stiff cotton led her hand up to his collar, to his face where she covered his left eye with her hand, immediately recognizing the boy that all of her hopes and dreams were pinned onto as a thirteen year old. "It is you," she marveled with a smile, "Hello, Blink. You haven't changed a bit."

"You neither," he chuckled, "same serious sourpuss as when we was kids." Selling papers he had to have seen thousands of faces every day and she never bought the paper. His broad grin fell a bit as he watched her confused expression. "A guy like me, raised like I was, where I was, gets to know when a house is getting watched by the wrong sort of people. Your house was watched by someone new every other week. I steered clear 'cause I didn't know if Barkers was looking for me or something. I saw you, taking your packages uptown and then one day, the snoops was gone and I didn't see you no more. Now I guess I know why." They stared at each other in somber silence as that settled between them. They were watched, always watched. They were never safe during her whole childhood. "I almost tried to check in on you a buncha times, but I didn't want to get caught peeping in your windows like a prowler."

Adrienne cleared her throat and nudged Elvie with her shoulder. "Vie, you wanna take your hand off the poor guy's face? It's not even my face and you're creeping me out." Her hand dropped quickly and her cheeks burned with embarrassment while Blink laughed heartily.

"See? Baby Beth!" he laughed. It didn't bother me none, Elvie." Elvie glared at her sister for pointing out her awkward behavior in public. "So, what can I do for you ladies?"

"I already told you!" Adrienne snapped. "She wants to see Skittery."

He raised an eyebrow at the girl before clicking his tongue and looking back at Elvie. "Boss is watching the dining room pretty close today, Elvie, it's not a great time for him to sneak away." His face lit up with another grin, "But if ya got time to wait around, have a bite to eat, eventually Nina will come and drag Davey out. She likes Skittery even if Dave is still sure that his good behavior is a long con."

"We have time, but we don't need anything," she answered, narrowing her eyes at him until he grinned sheepishly. "And we can't be tricked with cake. We'll just stay out here for a bit."

"Like hell you will!" he admonished. "No ma'am, no girl of ours sits in the alley alone with the trash. Adrienne, you go one through to Gerard's table." He put his elbow out to Elvie as Adrienne passed them. "You ok with me leading you?" he asked. She took his offering and closed her eyes as he began to walk. He was careful and calm, knowing exactly what to say and when to tell her to step or turn.

He stopped and she smiled, opening her eyes. "You taught Beth. You give directions like her."

He smiled gently. "We taught each other," he answered, turning her by her shoulders and guiding her hand back to feel the chair behind her. "We was all we had until my Pop died when we was eleven. Our fathahs was pretty clueless when it came to us two." Once she was seated and he had tucked her cane away where no one could trip on it, he had to go again. "I have inventory and orders to make before the boss starts watching me like he does your boy, Skittery. Bernard is right behind you though and while I'd like to tell you he'll make anything you like, really, he's going to do what he wants and feed you until you want to puke."

"Do you boys have any friends who will do what you ask instead of what they want?" she muttered.

He laughed, "Not a one! You give me a yell if you need something. I ain't far, just filling out papers and making calls to keep the Frenchman happy. I learned my lesson on getting between him and his wine or his butter."

Bernard bustled over, a blur of dark hair, waving hands, constant motion and broken French and English. He made Elvie dizzy and she had to shut him out, but he still came back not long after to place a plate of the most wonderful smelling food in front of her. She dipped her nose down, feeling the steam on her skin, letting the rich smell of chicken and cream and mushrooms in port with shallots fill her nose. Adrienne's fork and knife scraped against her plate as she stuffed her face.

"Slow down there, Baby Beth," Elvie chided, picking up a fork and staring longingly at her plate through fogged up glasses. Meat was a special treat, one that they rarely had. Every once in awhile one of the kids showed up with a bit of bacon or salt pork, maybe a packet of dried beef. Certainly nothing like a whole chicken cutlet, but she was too worked up to eat more than a few bites as she slumped in her chair and tried to block out the busy din of the kitchen. Bernard said nothing about Elvie's barely touched plate as she sat with her face covered. No one spoke to them and she was never happier to be the type of person who no one noticed. That was just what she needed.

"What's this?" a familiar voice. "My two favorite girls is here and no one bothered to tell me?" She wanted to sit up and greet him, but it felt like her spine might be permanently stuck in a hunch and her head was too heavy for her neck. His hands came to rest on the tops of her knees and his long legs brushed hers as he crouched, caging her in. "You's a long way from home," he said as he tucked the arms of her glasses over her ears. "Eyes open, Gamble." She took in everything about him that she'd missed. The natural crescent shape of his eyes, flatter towards his cheeks and rounder towards his brows and the way his normally tousled hair was slicked back for work but still curled behind his ears. Her hand reached out slowly, finding his face without too much trouble. The pad of her thumb traced the strong ridge of his brow, the long straight bridge of his nose and the firm curve of his jaw. "Wha'ssamattah, Ace?" he asked, begging her for a reaction, goading her with a saucy smirk on his face. "Don't recognize me no more?"

She didn't take his bait, just kept touching and looking, trying to match the faint fuzzy image of him in her head with the man kneeling at her feet. "Why don't you have a girl?" she blurted out suddenly.

He laughed and staring into his face she could see the sadness there. "Who says I don't?"

She felt her cheeks heat up and wished she could control the reaction. "You...you're just so handsome. Why are you still alone?"

That saucy, know-it-all smirk came back, trying to cover the sad, lost little boy look in his lovely cognac colored eyes. Her heart fluttered madly in her chest. "Maybe I ain't. Maybe I was waiting for something special to come along and it did, and I'm just waiting to make sure she thinks I'm worth it."

Not understanding his meaning, not hearing what he was so plainly hinting at over the buzz of her own heart in her ears, she asked, "How long are you going to wait before you settle for something average? Or even less than average?"

He grinned broadly, pushing her hair back. "I'm not settling."

She sat with that, looking away, wishing she had her cane to hold. She wanted the hills and valleys of the berries to calm her. Then it came to her. He spent all of his free time cutting out each one of those grooves for her. He carved her name in a heart with his. He wasn't talking about anyone else. She was the something special and that was almost scarier than being the something average that he settled for. "Why didn't you tell me you made the cane? Or what you carved?" He looked down and shrugged. "Did you mean what you put at the bottom?" His head bent so low that she felt the flush of blood to his cheeks on her thighs.

She found his face as he raked his hair back compulsively and tipped his chin up. "I can take it off...if you don't want it there," he stammered. She found his face twice without hurting him, not so much as a finger to the eye, so she leaned down while he was still doing everything in his power to avoid her telling him that she wanted nothing to do with him. When he saw her lips coming at him and eagerly moved to meet them, the sudden movement made her jump. Her forehead crashed into his nose and he let out a long groan as he fell back onto his backside. Her glasses hung by their temples from her ears, the lenses dangling my her chin as pain throbbed through her head. Adrienne was clucking and worrying about him bleeding.

"Vie you ok?" he asked in a muffled voice.

"My head," she moaned. "You moved."

"Yeah," he groaned, "I moved. I was tryin'a meet you in the middle."

"I thought you didn't want..." her words dissolved on her tongue like salt.

"I wanted it," he said, his voice just a quiet rumble and then he was quiet for a long while while Adrienne continued to worry herself silly. When he spoke next his voice was louder. "Blink, can I get a hand and a towel out here?" Her hands were still clasped over her aching head when Blink's whispered tirade of cursing wound around them. The two men shuffled around a bit before Bays said, "I'm fine, check on her for me sos I don't bleed on her."

Rough hands righted her glasses and pushed her hands down to inspect her face. "Leave it to old Glum and Dumb here to ruin a perfectly good kiss, huh?" Blink asked with another bright grin. He looked at her forehead, but dismissed it as just a bruise. Her lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. The harder she willed them to stop the more forcefully they shoved their way out.

"I want to go home," she whimpered. She just wanted to stop crying and he was looking at her like she was broken.

Before he could answer her request, Bays was pushing Blink away and taking his place. "You's fine, Vie. I'm good. No harm done. Just a little bloody nose, happens all the time." He pulled the towel away from his face and shot her a little grin relaxing her even though his face was still smeared with blood. His lovely nose was crooked, still bleeding and broken.

"I ruined it," she whispered.

One of his hands returned to her knee. "So we try again," he answered, pulling the towel away from his face again. The bleeding had stopped. He put her hands back on his face where they were before, "This time I'll do the moving." He turned his head, placing the softest, most feathery kiss on the palm that held his cheek before moving into her and pressing his lips to hers. Until this moment, those little, soft chaste kisses to her hands or the top of her head were all the affection he showed her. He would throw an arm around her when she let him and they sat on their bench the nights he came over and she laid against him while he made up stories about the stars for her, but this...this was new. Her eyes closed at the touch. His lips were soft and warm, not nearly as wet as she thought they might be. They wrapped around her's in a way she didn't think was possible, warming her whole body with their touch. She never wanted those lips to leave her's. He pulled away long before she was ready, but also long after she ran out of oxygen. He chuckled at her as she sat there, drawing air into lungs that didn't know they were missing it in gasps. "Eyes open." She did as he asked and smiled when his brown ones were right in front of her still. She leaned in gently to place a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth and her nose brushed his. The contact wouldn't have even caught her attention if he didn't pull away violently with a loud hiss. "Yeah, thats broken," he grunted, sitting back again and hanging his head between his knees.

She slid forward in her chair and put a hand on the back of his neck. "I'd bite that towel if I was you," she advised and saw him look up at her questioningly. "You've met my brother, you know about my father. I've set a broken nose before. It won't hurt so bad once it's back in it's proper place."

Adrienne cleared her throat, "Take your glasses off Elvie, just in case he's a flailer like Doug."

"A flailer?" Blink asked.

Elvie grinned as Bays bit down on the towel, "Doug is no nonsense and tough about getting the broken noses, but he's a big baby when it comes to setting them. Auggie has to hold him down. Ready, Bays?" She looked for his nod and took her glasses off. "On three. One...T..."

"Albert!" The loud exclamation of an unfamiliar man's voice startled her into pulling before she even got all of two out and Bays let out a long string of anguished curse words into his towel. "Where is he?" the man's voice bellowed. "I warned you Blink! I told you he wasn't trustworthy. I told you that promoting him would only prove that he isn't responsible enough. Skittery!" She wanted to reach for her glasses, but she was a bit frozen.

"Davey, easy," Blink said. "He's right here. He took an accidental headbutt to the face. Where's the fire? What needs doing? I'll take care of it."

Elvie focused on listening to Bays' ragged breathing on the floor in front of her and not the snappish and snobby way the man spoke. It was only when a the sound of a small pair of heeled boots came clicking down the tiled corridor that she was able to breathe a bit. "David, ty che, suka, o'khuel blya?" a lovely low voice purred out. Her voice was like velvet, tugging against Elvie's earlobes in a sultry way. "I tell you to leave Skittery alone and here you go storming off and don't even ask if he is all right. What is wrong with you? He's hurt." Her thick Russian accent was deliciously haughty and rich as she checked on Skittery, speaking to him like an old friend. The woman paused, "Hello, Kotyonok, who are you?"

Elvie was glad that Adrienne was there, because she wasn't sure she could have choked out an answer at that moment. "Adrienne, that's my sister Elvie."

"My name is Nina and this doorak is my husband, David," the woman said, her voice disdainful as she insulted her husband in her native tongue. Elvie heard her heeled shoes click closer, smelled the pungent spice of her expensive perfume. "So, this is my Skittery's Elvie. You were right my friend. Lovely." She felt a cool, smooth hand on her's. "Might I hand you your glasses?"

"Please," Elvie murmured. David was still stammering and spitting angrily as she pulled her spectacles onto her face. "Bays, come here." He crawled forward and she closed her eyes, letting her fingers feel for anything that was still out of place. He flinched and pulled away. "Not my nicest work, but it's clean." She tsked her tongue, "Your face." His eyes were swelling and bruising.

"Take him home with you, Elvie," Nina said, smiling cooly down from her tall height. Her dark hair was twisted up on her head and her blue eyes were serene. "I'm sure Thomas and the other's will manage without him."

"Nina!" David hissed. "You can't send my employees home!"

"What's your's is mine, no?" It was endearing, but at the same time a challenge.

A challenge that David gave in to, "I wouldn't want you disturbing the customers looking like that I guess," he grumped. He turned to Elvie, "Nice to meet you, Miss," and stalked away, Nina close behind.

"Don't mind him," Blink said gesturing at David's back. "He lost his sense of humor in the war."

"What war?" Adrienne asked.

Blink grinned, "Awright that's a lie. He ain't never had a sense of humor and he's had it out for Skits here for years now. You two head out. It ain't that busy."

Bays stood up, "You sure Blink? I know he thinks I'm a putz...". Blink waived them off and out the door, handing Elvie's cane over. "Vie, I'ma take you and Aide to the lobby so I can get a clean shirt from my room." He led her out and sat her on the softest seat she'd ever felt.

"Aide, tell me," she whispered, letting her eyes roam, wishing she could differentiate the different shapes and rich colors she could see. "It's big, right? I can hear how big." Adrienne held her hand while she described the rich wood of the front desk, the marble pillars throughout the huge atrium, and the lush but not frilly finishes. Everything was opulent without being fussy and Elvie wanted to touch all of the different fabrics and textures. "Show me," she said quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear. Her fingers slid over the glasslike polish on the marble, the soft, fine pile of velvets and brocades and the satin surface of expertly sanded wood. Some of them she opened her eyes to add color to the picture her fingers created for her mind, but others she left them closed.

"Casing the joint?" Bays asked from behind them, his voice nasal from the swelling in his face.

"Unfortunately, everything worth taking is attached," she answered dryly and he laughed, taking her arm. They rode the trolley back to the lower east and she tucked herself into his left shoulder, her head resting in the curve of his throat and her hand threaded under his navy suspender strap. It felt like that spot was made for her body. From there she could turn her head and her scars were hidden from the nosy eyes she felt on her. His large hand absently stroked her soft braids and he could tilt his head and murmur things for only her to hear in her ear.

Back on the streets in her own neighborhood, he stopped to tie his bootlace and Adrienne pulled Elvie aside. "I'm gonna go get my schoolwork. I'll meet you back at home." Elvie nodded, but Adrienne didn't leave. "You love him."

She smiled, her sister might be right but she was too afraid to admit that just yet. "What makes you say that?"

"You let him sit to your right. You never let people sit or walk or do anything on your blind side. Not even me or Doug or Joey." Her face warmed as she realized that it was true. He walked right up to her on that side and it never bothered her.

Adrienne skipped away and Bays took his place, starting to walk, but she held her ground, pulling him back. "I trust you, you know that? I think I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone."

He was silent as he thought over the strange declaration. "Ok..."

She sighed and twisted her cane in her hands, gripping so tightly that it felt like she might rub off some of his beautiful workmanship. "I know that doesn't sound like much. Its not romantic or beautiful or anything, but look at me, neither am I." She was so glad she couldn't see him looking at her like she was odd and broken. "Love...I wouldn't know that if it hit me in the face because I haven't seen enough of it, but I know trust. I don't give it easily and I take it very seriously. I TRUST you Bays." She hoped she understood, trust was so much more important to her.

"You are beautiful," he answered and his long slender hands came up on either side of her face, stretching from her neck all the way into her hair and kissed her until women passing them on the street made comments and her knees were too weak to hold her up. "Now, can I take you home? My face his fucking killing me." She nodded with a smile, pressing her face into that spot under his chin that she fit so well into for just a moment longer and then let him lead her home. She was ready for more of that, more of anything that had to do with him kissing her, but he stopped short.

"Bays?" she asked, "we're here, right?"

"Stay there," he ordered, his voice hard and cold. "I mean it, Elvie, don't come downstairs until I come get you."

"What's going on?" she asked, gripping his arm tightly so he couldn't leave her. He pulled her in and held her close, before putting her hand on the iron railing that led down to her apartment.

"The doors wide open and everything's a mess. I want you to stay here while I check and make sure no one's still in there. Please, Vie. If you trust me, then stay here where you's safe." She nodded and stood, holding onto the rail for all it was worth while he went into her raided apartment.

A/N: Don'tcha just hate cliffhangers? I don't use them often, but man, I really wanted to do this one. This chapter is long, and honestly, it was longer. Blink and Nina and even David had like a whole other page of dialogue worked out for themselves and I cut them off. Much as I love having a BHS/Newsie party, Skits and Elvie needed to get their smooch in and get home to some jeopardy since we finally all sort of know each other now!

Here's a guide to the things Nina says in Russian:

"ty che, suka, o'khuel blya?" What the fuck is wrong with you, asshole?

"Kotyonok" Kitten

"Doorak" Idiot

Please keep the reads and reviews up! Its so nice to have a story that gets reviewed by more than just Joker. I love her...but she lets me play with her characters so I kinda already knew how she feels about me. (Don't ditch me Joker! I love you my coconut!) So, thank you to my guest reviewer and Hannah! I've got an insanely busy couple of weeks coming up, so I can't promise the same speed that these first chapters have gone up, but I also know better than to claim that I won't keep up. Just bear with me and know that I won't abandon Elvie and Skits, I just might be a bit (more) erratic. Much love to you all!


	9. Chapter 9

The rules that had become so much more relaxed with him there all the time pushing at them came back swiftly and ruthlessly. When he first led her into the apartment, clearing a path through the rubble with his foot, she took it in gentle stride. He was impressed with how well she faced the destruction of her safe place where she normally could function without help. She shuffled up behind him, sliding her hand up his arm to rest on his shoulder and tucked her face into the space between his shoulder blades and asked him to take her around, saying she needed to see how bad it was. When he begged her to let him clean up first she refused. "I need to see more," she whispered into his skin. "I need to know what he took." He resisted and argued, claiming they both got knocked around enough in the hotel kitchen, but she just murmured, "Bays." She didn't need to say anything else. Hearing her voice purring out his name was all he needed to do what he was told.

He twisted to look down over his shoulder at her, unable to keep from smiling, "You ain't gonna see much like that."

She shook her head, and took a trepidatious breath, "I don't need to see all of it," she murmured and requested that he take her to the kitchen, giving him directions to look in and under certain things. The bag of clothespins on the laundry basket was inside out and empty, the cracker tin was not only empty, but crushed under a boot and the box of soap flakes contained only soap. With each thing she asked him to check that turned up empty, her face grew more peaked and her grip on him tighter. Her chest of sewing notions was upturned and emptied, including a false bottomed drawer. In the bedrooms, both mattresses were pulled from the frames and sliced open, and the drawer holding Elvie's few simple delicates was out of the dresser and emptied.

Every hiding spot came up empty and she sank down onto the cut open mattress that hung half on and half off her bed with her lip trembling. "He cleaned us out. He's hard up this time." She stood up and fought her way to the door, forgetting about the mess while he begged her to tell him who did this. He understood that she had money hidden in all of the places they checked and that it was all gone, but he didn't know who would know that a houseful of kids living alone would have any kind of money. When she fell, he grabbed her around her waist and tried to set her on her feet, but she fought him too. "Get off me! We have to find the kids." She yelled, shoving him off of her. "They can't be out there all alone." She grabbed his arm. "Please go find Joey and Adrienne!"

"I'm not leaving you alone, Elvie," he answered quietly. "You'll break your neck trying to get a drink of water in this shit!"

"I don't need water, I need my brother and sister safe! Tomás could already be watching them!"

He couldn't hold it in anymore, "I need you safe! Don't you get that? I'm not leaving you alone in an apartment that is torn to shreds! Let me clean up around here and then I'll go find Aide and Joey for you, ok? They shouldn't see their home like this anyway!"

She laughed darkly, "This won't bother them, Bays. This is my father's calling card; we'd never see him if he didn't break in from time to time to steal from us. Why do you think I hid most of the money in the mattresses? I never left the house till you came along. He couldn't steal out from under us while we were sleeping!" She sighed, "The mess is only a problem for me, but they are not safe on the streets if what he took wasn't enough."

He stepped closer to her, trying to put his arms around her, but she shied away, "If they ain't back by the time I finish the kitchen and the sitting room, I'll head straight out and find them."

She glared up at him, not liking being negotiated with. "The wedding dress, is the dress ok?" she murmured.

"It's fine," he assured, leading her back to the sitting room and holding it up for her to touch and see. She gripped the cushion to her chest and started looking around like she was trying to decide which way to go. Hugging that humpbacked pillow to her body, she tried reaching her cane out. "Whatcha lookin for?" he asked quietly, "Let me help, Vie."

She shrugged off the gentle hand he put on her shoulder and hugged her work harder. "Where's my chair?" she asked in a flat whisper, still trying to figure out for herself where she was and which way to turn. Normally, she could make her own way around the small space with no help, but her safe place was gone. He put his elbow on her hand and waited for her to take it, but she pulled away from that too. "Where is my chair?"

He sighed, "There's a chair to your left." She moved to her left, shuffling her feet to push anything in her way away until her cane hit one of the armchairs. Her hand reached out and felt the rough upholstery before pulling back like she'd been burned.

"No, my chair! I work in my chair so that the sun can tell me when to stop. I need you to stop trying to make this easier for yourself and just do what I say! I don't sit here, I sit in my chair! Why don't you know anything? I have work to do and you're always here, always making me go walk around and leave my work!" Her voice got higher and more panicked the more she talked and she dropped to a low squat around her work pillow. "I need to do my work. I need to do things my way. You made me forget," she said her voice turning soft. "You made it so this could happen."

His stomach hurt at her words. She hated everything she was doing with her? This was why he didn't stick around things and places. What he did was never the right thing, never enough. He looked around the room and saw her little three legged stool knocked over in the middle of her work area and shove the rubble aside clearing a path. There were grooves in the little rug showing him where to set the stool. "Right here, Vie," he mumbled, "clear all the way over." She stuck her cane out and moved slowly, shuffling, tapping checking every step. Her lack of trust in him hurt worse than her insistence that this was his fault. She sat on her little stool and stared down at her work, gently arranging her spools of thread and checking her pattern with her fingers.

He tried to lean over and kiss her hair, but she shrugged away and shook her head. "Not now, I can't do that now. Please, don't touch me now," her thready unsure voice whimpered. "This isn't your mess to clean up, it's ours. We don't need anyone else for Tomas to get to. I can't worry about someone else getting hurt by him." He looked at her for a second.

"You are my mess, and I'll clean you up if I feel like it. Now, who's Tomás?" She shuddered at the sound of that name rolling of his tongue and shook her head. He sighed heavily. "I ain't going nowhere, Vie," he said stubbornly and started cleaning.

They worked silently, though he couldn't help passively throwing things and making a racket from time to time. Her attempts to get rid of him and push him out hurt and he was upset that her own father would do such a thing. He was so busy stewing that he didn't hear the high heeled boots clicking down the steps. "Elvie!" Annabel called. "Mrs Fredericks sent me home early, so I came to help you out!" The door swung open and the red head gasped as she looked around. "Oh! Elvie? Are you all right?"

Elvie had thrown herself into her work and didn't respond. "She wasn't here," Bays said, sweeping up broken pottery in the kitchen. He dumped the bits and pieces into the trash barrel and went to Annabel, "I need you to do me a favor. Go find Adrienne, she should just be out by the school and then find Andy and send him uptown. He needs to find Joey and go to the hotel, tell Blink what happened here and ask him to send me some help for dinner. She won't forgive herself if them kids go hungry. Then, take Aide and go to Beth, Aide knows where to go. Beth will know what the right thing to say is and she'll make sure the scumbag who did this don't come back for more." Annabel didn't gush or question, she just turned and went to run back up the stairs, but paused.

"Bays, did you find the package that sits here, normally?" she asked quietly, not wanting to disturb Elvie. Her blue eyes looked up at him, wavering with worry.

"What package?" he asked, coming up behind the girl.

She put her hand on the shelf next to the door. "She puts brown paper here after I pick up the order for the week and as she finishes things, she puts them on the paper and keeps them nice until I pickup again. It was here when I left last night and she was almost done with the order." Elvie's lace cushion fell to the floor with a thunk as she stood from her stool and struggled to get across the small room to them. Looking with her eye, feeling with her fingers and muttering under her breath, she searched the shelf, before dropping to the floor and feeling around, but there was no paper. He took off with all of their savings and her order for the week.

"He wouldn't," she whimpered. Bays gestured for Annabel to get going and find the others while he knelt down to lift Elvie to her feet.

"It'll be ok. You can remake those things," he soothed, rubbing up and down on her upper arms, doing everything he could think of to be comforting and encouraging.

"I can't remake a weeks worth of work in two days!" she wailed angrily. "Even if I worked all day and all night, I couldn't. It takes time!"

"I know it does. I'll take you to the shop in the morning and we'll explain what happened. We'll get more time."

"Stop helping!" she snapped. "There is no more time! She quotes her customers a time and I have to have it there so that it can be put on the clothing, if I can't keep up, she'll give my business to someone who can! That's always been the way of it. I need that contract and I can't even hire someone to come and help me because I have no money! I have nothing!" Her body was shaking so violently with the force of her yelling that he could feel it from beside him.

"Fine," he gritted. "I won't help no more."

Her hands gripped and clawed at one another as she looked around the room. "Can you...will you help me back?"

A smile fought its way through his hardened, annoyed expression. "Course I will," he answered and led her back to her stool. By the time he had the whole front room cleaned, about an hour had passed and there was a knock at the door. Elvie cringed, and though he wanted to go and hold her, he stayed back. "It's ok, Vie," he soothed. "They's friends, coming to help. Ain't no one gonna hurt you while I'm with you." He opened the door and never thought he could be so happy to see David Jacobs' serious, drawn face. "Boss? Nice of you to come out."

Dave stared at him hard, his blue eyes searching deep as he thought about what he wanted to say. "We're a family at the Benjamin, we take care of each other." His eyes flicked over his old friend's bruised face and a subtle, sardonic smirk curled his mouth, "You look terrible. You ran into her face while she was trying to kiss you?"

Skittery's ears burned. "Not on purpose."

"And...which one of you is blind?"

"Shut up, bossman!" On an odd day full of strange happenings, joking with David was a welcome oddity. It reminded him of old times when things might not have been better, but they sure were more simple.

They grinned at each other for just a moment before remembering what brought them together away from the hotel. "Bernard is setting up a table and brought a crock of soup big enough to feed an army. He wanted you two to have these, though." He handed in plates covered with room service cloches. "Sarah and Edward will be here with bread soon and Race and Blink are here to help." He paused and peered past Skittery. "How is she?"

His hair fell in his face as he let his chin fall to his chest. "She's shook up," he answered truthfully. "She ain't said much except to give her some space."

David nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you need any help in here, cleaning up, or do you want me to stay outside?"

Skittery sighed again and looked back at Elvie, who was running her fingers absently over the head of her cane, her work put to the side and her glasses resting on her legs.

"Stay out for now, I think. I dunno. I dunno what I'm doing here, Dave. Mostly I'm just waiting around for someone to tell me what I'm supposed to do." He swallowed hard. He wasn't the leading type, he didn't know where to start. "Beth will come when Adrienne tells her. She'll know what to do."

Dave nodded and clapped him on the shoulder again. "There's a plate there for you too. You're no good to her if you don't take care of yourself."

The guys outside were yelling in alarm as the sound of running feet neared the front door, but the runner ignored them. "Elvie!" Auggie yelled, bombing down the stairs and shoving carelessly past David to get to his sister. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"

"The house..." she said, "We came home and everything was on the floor. Auggie, if he's that hard up, he might be in real trouble and Tomás might come back."

Auggie stared hard at her, his dark brow furrowing on his elfish face. "Elvie, what are you talking about?"

"Rob! Pop! Whatever you want to call him," she answered. "They only send him when Pop bets too much, but we need to get the kids inside. He can't have them. He can't take them if he can't get them. We have to get Adrienne and Joey home, we can't let them out where they can get them!"

He sighed and seemed to deflate, wrapping his arms around her tightly as if his narrow frame could hide her from the rest of the world. "Elvie, Pop's been in Sing Sing for two years, remember? He's in for at least six more months. This isn't Pop and Tomás only came that one time. He ain't coming back for any of us. You're safe. The kids are safe, Adrienne is with Beth and Andy is with Joey. They're safe." She stared blankly at him and then down at the lace in her lap, as if the knots and patterns had some sort of answer for her. She didn't move, Skittery wanted to make sure she hadn't somehow willed herself to stop breathing a few times. Suddenly she started twisting her bobbins again, checking her positions with her fingers and going on. Her brain needed to work. She had to keep going or all of this stress would drown her.

"Auggie," Skittery said, watching the boy try to talk to his sister. She ignored him, closing her eyes and putting all of her focus on the lace in her lap. "Come help me put the girls' room right," he said lowly, jerking his head at Dave to tell him to wait outside. Auggie looked back at Elvie, trying to get her attention one more time before reluctantly following.

Skittery hauled the mattress right and stuffed the straw ticking back in. He'd have to get a needle and thread to close it up, but for now he just wanted Elvie to be able to walk in her own home. "My sister ain't crazy, if that's what you're thinking," Auggie gritted, sniffling and wiping his face on his sleeve. His eyes were red and swollen from trying to be tough and hold back tears.

"I ain't thinking that," Skittery answered quietly, even though he was, just a little. "I'm thinking that I need to know what's happening right now so I know what to do and say next. She's telling me not to fix things, that I can't touch her when we were just kissing a little while ago...gimme a clue here Auggie." He shoved his hair back, accidentally brushing is nose with his wrist and wincing. Was that really just a few hours ago that they were kissing in the hotel kitchen?

Auggie sat down hard on the mattress and hugged a pillow to his bony chest. "When Pop would get into trouble with his bets when Mama was still alive, he'd raid Mama's hiding places. She saved everything she could to keep us safe, to keep the money away from him before he could gamble it away, to try to get us out of this shitty apartment. She moved the money each time he took it, so that he had to really look and really think about what he was doing before he took it. After Mama died and Elvie was hurt but working again, she was always a little more nervous than Mama ever was. She hid a little bit in each spot, and most of the time he would assume that what was there was all there was. He just thought he got better at guessing which spot to check. It made it so that he didn't make such a mess and we weren't cleaned out."

"Ok, so your Pop is a sleezebag, but what does that have to do with now if he's in the pen?"

"He IS in the pen! I took Adrienne and Joey to see him a few days before we met you and he had just gotten his parole denied. He's there for at least another year, but she always does this after he comes through! I thought maybe after going so long and meeting you and being... so...so much better than she was that she'd be ok. She's gonna lock us in here and not let us out for days! She's sure some guy, some guy with brown skin and blue eyes is going to come and steal us off the street." Skittery's hand closed tight around the hairbrush he picked up off the floor. He knew of someone with deep olive skin and blue eyes. "Can you believe that? You ever heard of anyone with brown skin and blue eyes?"

"Just once," he gritted, barely stopping himself from throwing the hairbrush to the floor.

"Really? I thought she was seeing shit or something because they hurt her so bad." Auggie put the pillow down. "She obsesses about Pop not having enough money to pay off the sharks, about them taking us the way they did her."

"But who else knows about her stashes? And who else would know to take her order for Mrs. Frederick's? Most loan sharks ain't gonna know the difference between the stuff they turn out for a penny a yard at a factory and what Elvie makes."

"They took her order?" The kid gulped. "She'll never make up all that work in time."

"Yeah, so she said," Skittery scratched the back of his head and started gingerly gathering delicates off the floor. At first he tied to just pitch them back into a drawer, but the more he thought, the more he slowed down and attempted folding them and setting them in carefully. "Who else knew?"

"Just us, and now you, I guess," Auggie answered shrugging, but paused and started rubbing at his mouth with the flat of his hand, before the tears started again. "Holy shit, Doug. He ain't hardly been home since that first night you came when she kicked him out." He took a shaking breath and looked at the man folding his sister's underwear carefully. "Don't leave her, Bays," he said quietly. "I know she's acting nuts and pushing you away and I know that we got more luggage than Grand Central around here, but she's so much better when she's with you. Even when you aren't here, she isn't so afraid anymore. You can't leave her! You can't leave us." His voice broke and big tears ran down his cheeks. "Don't let her push you out."

Skittery set down the chemise in his hand and pulled the kid into his chest and held him tight like he would his own little brother. "I ain't going no where, Kid. Even if she tells me to. You ask Andy, or my boss out there. Telling me what to do is basically telling me what I should try not doing. Even if I stay away because I respect her and care about her, I'm always there for you guys. You just gotta come find me." He pushed Auggie away to look into his red face. He saw so much of himself at the same age, finding himself suddenly responsible for an eight year old boy, so much of Andy when all of the concerns for his newsies got to be too much. It was the look of a boy being asked to be a man before he was ready for it.

In the front room, the door flew open and Elvie screamed, but Skittery just rolled his eyes, "That'll be Beth," he said, resting his hands on Auggie's shoulders. "I'mma go make sure your sister isn't on the ceiling, you stay here until you's ready."

Beth sat huddled in the armchair with Elvie, holding her friend's hands so that she couldn't do any further damage with her nervous scraping and wringing. He watched them, Elvie sitting vacant and Beth murmuring softly in her ear, trying to coax her back and anger boiled up inside of him. It was strong and fierce and like nothing he'd ever felt before unless he was protecting Andy. His eyes moved to Brendon, who was gently rocking the pram where Seamus slept and watching Skittery right back. One of his dark brows was raised, poised with interest.

Brendon worked with Carlos from time to time, acting as muscle when necessary for the skip trace turned private eye and no one but Race knew the Spaniard better. "Beth," he said abruptly, pushing forward and grabbing Brendon by his shirt, "taking your husband for a walk."

"Keep him as long as you need," she called as the men walked out, "Auggie and I can handle things here. Keep him on a tight leash though!"

Together they climbed the six steps and stepped out onto the street where the boys from the hotel were setting up a meal line fit for brunch at the grand dinning room at the Ben more so than a lower east side street corner. "What are you thinking, Bays?" Brendon asked.

Skittery raked his hand through his hair and undid the top button of his shirt. "You ever met a guy with a brown face and blue eyes who might call himself Tomás if the mood struck him right?" Brendon stopped in his tracks, his hazel eyes drilling into Skittery's profile as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up. "Yeah, me too. We got a visit to pay." He stomped past his friends who were carrying on and bantering with Edward Harkins, Sarah's husband as he delivered dinner rolls. "Race, with me!" he barked as he went by.

Race stared after him a few steps before yanking the apron off of his uniform and discarding his hotel jacket as well with a big grin on his face. "Skittery's fired up and giving orders! It's enough to make a girl all tingly!"

"You'd know all about that, right?" Blink called after them.

A/N: Race decided to say that last line and I didn't stop giggling to myself for nearly an hour. I'm so excited for this next chapter, Skittery is not so excited to confront Carlos, but I'm pumped. This chapter came to me like a jigsaw puzzle and putting the pieces together was not easy, but it's finally done! Hope you all enjoy it! Read and review please!


	10. Chapter 10

"What's the plan here, Bays?" Brendon asked quietly as they passed the Flatiron building and entered the Toy District where Carlos lived and worked. He planted one of his big hands on Skittery's shoulders, stopping him from the beeline he'd been making every since they got off the trolly car. "You can't go in swinging and yelling, he'll eat you alive." Skits shrugged him off and went to keep moving. He knew himself too well, if he stopped to think too hard, he'd think himself right on out of his half hatched plan.

Race jumped in front of him, blocking his path. "Bailey is right. Carlos won't tell you nothing if you go in ready for a fight. Cool as a cucumber, that's what he'll respond to." He pulled a cigar out of the pocket of his blue trousers. Normally the smelly things hid in one of his many obnoxiously patterned waistcoats, but on days that he worked, he snuck them into his pants pockets, much to David's chagrin.

Just as he feared, he suddenly had no clue what he was doing there. He was way out of his league. Carlos couldn't be annoyed into submission; the man was unflappable. He stopped and stared down the block at the building wishing he'd never gotten involved with Elvie or her stupid brother because then he wouldn't be here, he'd be in his room at the Ben living the easy life of a working bachelor. None of this would help Elvie get her work back. He slumped against the nearest building and lit a cigarette while the other two bickered.

"It's Finnegan," Brendon bit back at Race. "She married me, took my name."

Race clamped his cigar between his teeth and grinned. "No, sorry, pal. Have you met your wife? You married THE Beth Bailey. You are Mr Beth Bailey. Forever." Brendon glared at him. Skittery wondered what Beth would have told him to do if she had come with instead of staying to take care of Elvie. She would make sure that Carlos paid for making the mistake of hurting her friend, whether he knew he was doing it or not, and that got him thinking about what could possibly make the situation better for Elvie. The man was a skip trace after all. He could find just about anything or anyone if properly motivated and Skittery could only hope that guilt was good enough motivation. He pushed passed them and kept moving towards the building, towards Carlos. "Skits, wait. You need a plan beyond that pretty face and wit."

"I'm not an idiot. I ain't gonna throw no punches or nothing! He can help her and he will if it was him."

Race frowned and got in his way again, blocking the sidewalk. "Why does it matter if it was him? It's old news. Pay the man and he'll help!"

Skittery looked down at his old friend, "It should matter, Race. She matters and he owes it to her." That shut Race up quickly and he and Brendon fell in line behind Skittery as he made himself keep moving down the street.

Carlos Fuentes perched on the corner of his desk with his arms crossed over his chest watching them all flatly as they came in. He gave nothing away about any sort of surprise or curiosity as to why the two newsboys and one Finnegan were in his office so close to closing time. He just watched. Skittery had to work very hard not to punch him in his unrelenting blue eyes, the same blue eyes that plagued Elvie and made her afraid of strangers. The same eyes that made her so afraid to trust or let others in. He glared at the skip trace, who merely raised his dark eyebrow back and held the stare as Jack swung his long legs down off of his smaller desk and greeted the others jovially. "Heya boys! Race, Finn, how's it rolling?" It was only when they didn't answer him because they were both so poised and ready to save Skittery from himself that Jack noticed that anything was amiss. "Uhhhhh, we got a problem here, Skits? Jeeeeesus, what the fuck happened to your face?"

Skits couldn't break eye contact with the Spaniard, if he did he was sure he would end up mauled. He needed to not punk out. "You're gonna track down my girl's kid brother and the stuff he stole from her and you's gonna do it fah free," he gritted, putting every ounce of strength he had into his voice even though he wanted to run.

A patronizing smirk twisted the Spaniard's face as his eyebrow lifted further and he chuckled. "I am, am I?" he asked. "Now, why would I do a thing like that?"

"For the same reason you helped Trout and Race," Skittery answered, pointing at Brendon and Race. Race opened his mouth to make a comment about the misnaming, but Bren just shrugged it off while Jack slapped a hand over Race's mouth to shut him up, watching the scene in front of them roll out in rapt attention. "For the same reason you got Barker's off of Viv Meyers. Guilt."

Again, he chuckled darkly and shifted on the desk, rubbing his hand across his stubbled jaw. "Guilt, huh? That's quite the accusation. You shouldn't just go throwing words around like that. Maybe that's what happened to your nose? Stuck it where it didn't belong?" Skittery refused to show that he was shaken. He wouldn't back down, Elvie deserved help. She deserved to be shown that people cared. When he didn't get the reaction he wanted, Carlos huffed, "Why would some girl and her sad sack brother make me feel guilty?" The annoyance palpably ran off the skip trace's broad shoulders despite his casual stance and placid expression.

His nonchalance sparked something in Skittery and he wasn't afraid anymore. Where fear once settled, he felt only spitting anger. No one was going to treat Elvie with that kind of indifference. "Because when she was twelve some asshat who called himself Tomas, with brown skin and blue eyes took her for a walk and dropped her off in the hands of the men who hurt her so bad that she didn't leave her house for years. But you prolly wouldn't know nothing about that, would you _Carlos_?"

The Spaniard's burnished skin blanched to a sickly yellow and he jumped to his feet. He paced a few steps in either direction in front of his desk, pushing his shiny black hair back and grumbling under his breath in Spanish. Skits chanced a look at his friends, who all stood shell shocked. It was a rare sight, to see Carlos Fuentes rattled. Jack's mouth hung open; he worked with the man day in and day out and had never seen him so emotional. Carlos stopped in front of Race looming over him menacingly. "You put this in his head? _Que te folles un pez_!"

Race's eyebrow's knitted together as he pulled his cigar from his mouth. "I didn't put nothing nowheres, but your tells is showing, Carlos. He must be onto something." Then Race smirked, "Tia would kick your ass for doing that to that poor fish. What'd that fish ever do to you?"

"I don't have tells!" he snapped back.

"Maybe not to no one else, but you can't hide that shit from me. Cursing in Spanish? Threatening people who got nothing to do with it? Oh yeah, you's hiding something, pal," Race taunted knowingly, not backing down despite Carlos's clear physical advantage.

Carlos glowered at his childhood friend and looked anywhere but everyone else's eyes. An overwhelming sense of accomplishment washed over Skits. "Eight years ago, Fuentes, just before we was striking. Little girl with brown hair and blue eyes who lives in a basement and makes lace for a fancy dress shop on Fifth."

" _Recuerdo_ , I remember," he growled, plunking down into his chair. "I'm not a monster. Aside from Race, she's the only kid I ever had anything to do with as a skip trace." He looked like he might be sick as he swallowed heavily and grunted, "I was just a kid." He sat quietly with that for a moment and no one seemed willing to breathe, let alone move until he looked up again, a fierce look in his incongruous eyes. "I won't apologize to you or anyone else for doing what I had to do to survive."

Skittery shook his head and invited himself to sit down in the chair across from the distraught Spaniard, raking his hair back out of his face. "Ain't asking you to. Asking you to make it up to the girl who's life your survival ruined by finding a punk kid named Doug who likes the cards and a packet of lace so that Elvie don't lose her livelihood and her brother over some loan shark. She's lost enough."

At the sound of her name, Carlos blanched even further. Race and Jack were beginning to scuffle and play as it became obvious that they had no part in the conversation. "Ya always looking for that thing that will make up for the bad ya did. Ya helped Trout for me, ya didn't rat me out to Barkers when ya coulda. This could be one more of them things."

Carlos did not like being bullied. An angry flush crawled slowly up his neck as he turned on Brendon. "What about you Finn? What dog do you have in this fight? Blackmail isn't your style."

Brendon stared at him steadily, not any more accustomed to being bullied than Carlos. He crossed his big arms over his chest, drawing himself up taller and wider, looking every bit The Wall, as he was known in his neighborhood as a kid. "You ever seen Beth take a shine to another person before?" Carlos didn't move and Brendon shook his head slowly. "It don't happen often. But you'd think them two was sweethearts the way they are about one another. I ain't about to let someone who means that much to Beth be in pain. And she is right now, Fuentes." The big Irishman paused tilting his head from side to side as he regarded his sometimes employer. "You did what you had to, but I know you. You wouldn't have taken her there if you knew what they were doing with her."

He sat all the way back in his chair until it creaked in protest. "I didn't ask all the questions back then. They gave me money and I took it, unless it was Dockside. I don't remember exactly what they told me. Something about her father needing persuading." He dug his thumb and forefinger into his eyes as his tried to remember more. Jack and Racetrack started a game of bloody knuckles with each other, neither one able to stay still long. Carlos watched them scathingly for a minute before he asked, "What did they do to her?"

Brendon looked to Skits, who waved him on. He and Beth had come up with a solid idea of what the bastards used based on Elvie's scars and it hurt Skits to think about it. A loud sigh later, Brendon said, "Whipped her. Twelve times, according to her, one for every year she'd been alive. From the way the cuts are, Beth thinks there was jeweler's chain braided in with the leather. She moved at some point and the lashes went over her head and onto her face, partially blinding her." Carlos winced as the mental picture of what a weapon like that could do invaded his mind. Looking at him as he just came to this realization kindled the spark Skittery felt earlier, fanning it into a flame. Jack and Race giggling as they slapped the hell out of each other's knuckles grated on him further and he wanted to make them leave.

"You never thought to check on her?" he bellowed, jumping from his seat. "She was a twelve year old kid!"

Carlos shook his head slowly, "If I checked on one, I woulda checked on all of them. They had to be targets, not people or I wouldn't have made it." He pressed his palms together and rested his forehead against them, closing his eyes and falling into deep thought. The horsing around finally took its toll on the stoic skip trace and he turned on the two newsboys at the other desk. "You two school girls mind? The adults are having a serious discussion! If you really can't just sit and listen, then make yourselves useful and go upstairs to see if Sophie has supper ready while I hash out some details with Bayarri, here." The two of them slumped out of the office like chastised children and Carlos waited for the silence to settle before he looked at Skittery again. The eyes that Skittery found unrelenting before were filled with remorse and care now, as well as fierce determination. "I'll do it. I can't promise nothing as I wouldn't know one piece of lace from another, but I'll at least find the brother and he can tell us where he hawked it." Skittery and Brendon gave Carlos every detail they could think of about Doug and his card sharping habits. They told him about Elvie's deadline and he checked his watch with a sigh. "I'll see what I can find, and I'll get back to you at the Ben this time tomorrow. Probably best if I stay away from her." That was something they both could agree on.

It was nearly dark when the three of them made their way back to the apartment. Carlos had eaten his supper with his wife and headed out in search of loan sharks who would deal with kids so young. Racetrack stopped Skittery even as Brendon kept going, eager to see his wife and baby. "I gotta say, I'm impressed," Race said, lighting his cigar. "I ain't never seen you go to the matts for no one but Andy. This girl has you pretty well whipped." Skits cringed at the poor word choice but didn't argue. If he'd learned anything that evening, it was how far he was willing to go for Elvie. What remained to be seen was how far Elvie was willing to go for him. Would she let him back in? Back into the apartment, back near her? Or was she still convinced that this was his fault? "Damn, not so much as a snide remark..."Race mused, "...you do got it bad."

"We'll see how bad I got it after she kicks me out again," he answered bitterly.

"Oh, its bad. Her kicking you out might make it worse, but the damage is done my friend. You's hooked, and there ain't no going back," the Italian smirked, slapping Skittery on the back. "Good luck with that, I'ma go check on Blink and the others. You need to get in there and make her see that she's got it just as bad."

Skittery made his way to the stairwell, but couldn't take the last few steps up to the door to knock. He wasn't sure he wanted to risk being rejected again. Maybe it would just be safer to cut the tie now, leave on good terms, knowing that Carlos would find Doug and her lace would be returned. He didn't sign up for crazy and what he saw earlier was not healthy. Could she even return his feelings properly with that tempest brewing below the surface? Inside the apartment, the lamps glowed merrily and the windows were open to let in the night breeze. Beth laughed raucously and Elvie's low hum of a giggle carried along side of it. Something about the sound settled a hurt deep in his soul that he wasn't even aware he was feeling until it wasn't there anymore and he slowly sat himself down on the bottom step to just listen and let that absence of pain be felt. He listened to them contentedly, prolonging the inevitable pain that he felt in his bones was coming as long as possible. "Skittery?" Dave called down the stairs, breaking his calm, happy reverie.

"Yeah, Dave?"

The young hotelier stepped calmly and carefully down the cement steps and sank down next to his old friend. "Will you be ok here? Do you want to ride back with us?"

Skits shook his head. "I got more to do here. I just ain't ready to do it."

Dave nodded, but didn't leave like Skittery expected him to. "Nina was pretty taken with Elvie," he said, with a little smirk on his face. " _Charmingk leetle sparrow_ ," he purred imitating his wife's thick Russian accent. "She asked me to invite the two of you to dinner on Monday, with everyone else."

Skittery chuckled to himself, Nina always liked him. His smug sarcasm wasn't deterred by her tendency to be an ice queen when she first arrived with the ballet company, and she appreciated his refusal to bow to her or anyone else. "To think ya gave up a promising career doing voices on the stage to waste your life away as a business mogul. How do you sleep at night?"

Dave grinned and rolled his eyes, "I guess I'll just have to live with that regret. What should I tell Nina?"

"I work Monday nights, remember?"

"If you want to come, I'll take care of it," Dave answered. "The floor supervisor gets perks like that. Monday's off." He wasn't sure he heard that right and raised his eyebrows at Dave sitting up a bit straighter. "The promotion is yours," Dave said cautiously and Skittery heard the stipulations coming. "But your warnings from before stand. One time you come to work out of dress code, one slip up, Skits, and I'll have to fire you. The Ben is getting bigger and the other employees are starting to notice that you've had way more chances than anyone else would get. This is it, make it or break it." With that, he stood up and brushed off his expensive trousers.

"Hey Dave," Skits called, a grin fighting it's way out, and Dave stopped. "How did that Nina voice go again?"

" _Doorak, go vorry about your own voman and don't be let for vork, eh_?" Dave snapped in reply, sending Skittery into a fit of laughter.

When he calmed down enough, Skittery reached his hand up and shook his boss's. "Tell Nina if there's still an us on Monday, we'll be there. But thanks for the chance Davey."

"Just don't disappoint me, Skits. I don't want to have to fire you, but I will if you make me."

Skittery didn't sit alone long after David left. The door to the apartment opened and there stood Elvie, her soft hair down around her shoulders and her glasses off. Her eyes were red and swollen from long dried tears and she just stood there a moment, listening to the night while he held his breath. "Bays? Are you still there?" she called out quietly, her voice hoarse and rough.

He sighed. "Yeah, Vie. Right here on the bottom step." She stepped forward tentatively with her hand out and he took it, guiding her to his side where she sat, but didn't let go of his hand.

Her body trembled and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but was too afraid of the outcome. Her hand whispered up his arm, leaving a trail of fire in its wake, cupping his cheek as she tilted her head. "Where did you go?"

"You wanted me gone, so I left," he answered gruffly, wincing at how bitter the words sounded.

"I didn't actually," she mumbled. "Will we see you again?" Her voice broke off into a despondent whimper and he couldn't stop his arms from pulling her into him.

She was just as afraid as he was, sure that her behavior had chased him away. Even though he'd considered it, he couldn't leave her like that. "Nah, I ain't going nowheres, Vie," he murmured into the crown of her head. "You's got a lot on ya plate and I come along and mess it all up. Distract you from what's important. I get it." He sighed, waiting her her to pull away, but instead she pressed in further, burying her face in his chest and breathing deeply, as if the very smell of him comforted her. "I can't even imagine how you do all you do, Vie. I barely take care of myself and feel like a scab most of the time."

The hand on his cheek slid up further as she lifted her head. Her fingers entwined in his hair and gently tugged him down to her, where she placed a tender but firm kiss on his cheek. "You take care of me, Bays." Her breath was hot on his skin and her lips brushed his cheek with every word. His heart pounded and his hands longed to grab her and plant her in his lap and show her exactly how much he wanted just that. Her little episode was long forgotten. She needed him. She wanted him. And he wanted nothing more than to give her everything she wanted. "Where did you go?"

The gentle vibration of her voice was too much and he scooped her into his arms and let her soft hair cover his face. "I sent a friend of a friend out to look for Doug. Hopefully, both your brother and your order will be back by tomorrow night." He rested his head on her shoulder while she stroked his hair and down his neck, sending shivers up his spine. She had no clue what she was doing to him and he had to grab her ams and stop them in their gentle assault on his senses. "I didn't know how to help you," he muttered, roughly running his hands up and down her slender biceps. "Everything I did was wrong and you said it was my fault. I just figured it would be better if I wasn't there messing things up anymore."

"Oh Bays," she whispered and found his face again, running her thumb across his lips until he caught it gently with his teeth and kissed it. "Please stay."

He grinned releasing her digit from his mouth. "Well, I'll have to leave sometime. What would ya neighbors say?"

She chuckled quietly, "Let 'em talk. Tell me you'll stay." She gently set her forehead against his, wincing from the pressure on her bruises. "Please, stay with me."

He curled his index finger around her chin, tilting it down towards him. "I'm all yours, Vie," he answered in a husky growl and pressed his lips firmly to hers, kissing her more thoroughly and deeply than she'd ever been kissed. Her hands wound back into his hair, keeping him from pulling away even though he had no intention of doing so. When he swept his tongue across her bottom lip she opened her mouth and pressed in closer gasping as their tongues connected and then letting out a breathy moan. He smiled against her mouth. She wanted him, and without a word, with just hands on her waist and his lips connected to hers, he let her know how important that was to him. It was everything.

 _A/N: Whhhoooooooooooooo! Skittery's mind was in the gutter for that last bit! Keeping it PG 13 for y'all was not easy! He was going for raunchy and I had to keep pulling him back. Damn boy, settle down! Anyway, I got to use my favorite curse phrase with Carlos, it basically translats to "I hope you get fucked with a fish!" Cursing in Spanish is the best. Let me know what you think!_


	11. Chapter 11

Elvie woke warm and comfortable. She was surrounded by the smells of rich, butter-filled cooking, raspberry jam, cigarette smoke and hair pomade and she smiled to herself knowing exactly who that smell belonged to. The more she came back to the waking world and her brain began to work, she noticed the heavy weight on top of the covers she was tucked into pinning her down and that her arms were wrapped around something warm and solid. His heart thumped steadily and slowly under her ear and she sank back down to listen to it's easy rhythm, just like she had all of the times in the night that she woke with nightmares about Tomas and Hollister and the man whose face she never saw who they both worked for. Every time Pop busted up the house she had the nightmares, and even though she knew that it was Doug and not her father, it still brought up the memories of that horrible day. Bays sat beside her all night, waking her before they got bad and holding her until she fell asleep again. Even after the horrible things she said and the way she turned him away, he was still there.

She wrapped her arms around him more tightly and nuzzled her face into his abdomen, sighing contentedly as he squirmed in his sleep and mumbled, "I didn't do it, Kloppy. Someone else left a corset in the attic," and she buried her face in his side to stifle her giggles. She must have woken him though, because he shifted a few more times and then ran his hand up her back, tangling his fingers in her hair. "Morning," he mumbled, stretching his arms up over his head.

"Good morning," she answered as every taut string of muscle in his stomach twist and stretch, as he tried to ease the strain of sleeping sitting up. A button tugged past her cheek and she unwound herself from around him, letting her hands linger a bit, finding him sat up against her headboard, on top of her blanket and still dressed in his clothes from the day before. Her fingers traced every seam and button, learning them by heart. She followed them up and to his collar and then found the neck of his undershirt and let those buttons lead her back down over the center of his firm chest. She loved his affinity for pink, vaguely seeing the pale skin of her hand contrasting against the blush. Because of the way he sat, is stomach rolled and she traced each crease.

His hand fell over hers, trapping it and holding it still. "You need to stop, Vie," he growled. His voice was low and reedy with sleep and something else. That unknown variable excited her and kindled a ball of warmth in the pit of her stomach.

She sat up, confused. "Why? Did I hurt you?"

He chuckled and let go of her hand only to brush her hair back and run the back of his finger down her cheek. "Yeah, it hurts." He cupped her cheek and pushed the whispy baby hairs around her face back. "I been right here all night watching you fall asleep, and now you's looking up at me like that, all sweet and sleepy and touching me...and I can't touch you back."

"Why can't you?" she asked. It was a strange thing to say when she'd been in his lap the night before, slept next to him and had been kissed silly by him. They had touched plenty, why couldn't he now?

He pulled her up so she could tuck into his side like she did on the park bench the evenings that he told her stories about the stars. His hot breath fanned down and filtered through her hair and onto her scalp. "Because yesterday, in the hotel, that was your first kiss. That's why. You ain't ready yet for all the ways I want to touch you and hold you, and the only way I know to keep myself in control is to keep my hands off. At least for now. Take it slow."

She pouted and turned so she was facing him, "What if I don't want slow?"

He didn't answer immediately. "What if I don't care? This ain't something you rush because it ain't something you get back." His long fingers were in her hair and she leaned into them, practically purring while she wondered about this person she was becoming. This person who craved touch and attention when she'd never needed them before. As the adult to her brothers and Adrienne, she'd comforted and hugged and she tolerated Auggie's constant clinging affection, but Bays, she craved. He pulled her in tight to his side and tipped her chin up with his other hand pressing his lips to hers. Her hands fisted in the open front of his shirt and she pulled him in even closer with it. He groaned and she felt him give in despite his gallant words. They kissed, mouths hungrily in sync until she was lightheaded, until she had to pull away for air. A funny thought drifted through her head and made her chuckle to herself. "What?" he mumbled, pulling her back close to him and nudging her chin up with his face so that he could lavish affection on her neck.

A moan crawled up her throat and out into the room that shocked her, but not enough to stop him. "My father can't stop betting," she mumbled, letting her head tip back as he kissed and sucked on her tender flesh, sending jolts of something amazing through her whole body. "Cards, horses, dice, doesn't matter." She hardly recognized her own voice it was so husky and deep.

"Yeah?" Suddenly his mouth left her neck, but before she could even mourn, it was latched on in the hollow of her throat between her collarbones and she shivered at the unexpected change.

"An...and my brother..." Her hands pressed against his chest and made their way upwards into his hair, scraping against his scalp, making him rumble against her. His tongue pressed against her skin, caressing her and her head fell back farther. She completely forgot what she was saying. Doug didn't matter. "But you...I couldn't quit you." He stilled suddenly with his mouth still pressed between her collarbones. She grinned as she felt the muscles in his face shift into a smile. "Really, I should be cross with you for the distraction you've become." As if to illustrate her point, he went back to his ministrations at her voice box, but she moved her hands to his face and pulled him up. "But you gave me a life, Bays. I was just surviving before you showed me something different, and now I can't imagine living without looking at the stars and Beth and being out. Show me more." She stared intently into the dark recessions she could see that she knew to be his eyes and he stared back steadily before pulling her into another fervent kiss.

He kissed her until her lungs hurt. His hands held fistfulls of her white cotton nightgown and pressed tightly against her back so hard that she was sure she'd have bruises until he abruptly let go and hurled himself off of the bed, leaving her cold and lonely. She listened as he splashed water from a pitcher into a washbowl and scooped it up to his face to attempt to calm himself, breathing heavily. "Don't you worry," he assured her. "I'll show ya everything you wanna see...but for today at least, lemme be the good guy who looks out for you instead of the asshole who only thinks of what he wants. Please?"

She nodded unconsciously as she thought about that request. No one but Auggie ever put her needs before his own. "Thank you," she whispered.

The bed dipped as he knelt next to her, pressing a much more chaste kiss to her lips. "No sweat, Vie, now get up. We got shit ta do."

She sighed and threw her covers off. "You're right. I have to get started on remaking that order." Her feet touched the cold stone floor and she heard his footsteps head towards the door.

"Nope. We got places to go, people to see before I have to head in to work for the dinner shift."

She shook her head, thinking he was gone by then, headed to the washroom, "I can't Bays, I didn't work hardly at all yesterday. I was behind to begin with and now I'm nearly the whole week behind. I can't just go gallivanting through the city." She pulled her nightgown over her head to start getting dressed with her back to the door.

"Galli-what?" he asked, sauntering back in before he hissed, "Shit!" Her hands clapped over her chest to cover herself, leaving her standing there in the middle of her own room in nothing but her drawers. They stood frozen in silence for what felt like an eternity before she heard his feet step slowly towards her. "Vie," he murmured, his strong voice breaking and wavering with pain as two of his fingers dragged down, following a scar from her shoulder to her mid back. She closed her eyes against the tingling sensation of his soft fingers on her broken nerve endings. There was nothing she wanted more than to get a shirt over her head to cover the shame that she held in those jagged lines and she tried to move away, but he sunk to his knees behind her and held her hip to keep her in place. He took in everything while she stood there in agony. Every lash that would never go away was now committed to his memory. His breath caught in his throat and she wanted to take the pain of seeing her that way away from him, but he rested his forehead in the small of her back and just breathed slowly and shakily for a moment. "No one," he finally said, his voice shaking with fragilely contained emotion, "will ever hurt you like this again. I won't let them."

She couldn't even respond to that. "Let me get dressed, please." She shuffled her feet, but the hand anchored at her hip wouldn't let her move. He kissed every scar from bottom to top, igniting a fire in her body that she was helpless against. When he was standing, he leaned over her shoulder, kissing her bare collar bones and a bit lower while she kept a tight hold over her breasts. Her lungs heaved, yet again unable to pull in enough air and her knees trembled, until he was suddenly gone and she heard the scrape of her dresser drawers opening and closing.

A gauzy chemise slipped over her head and he kissed her cheek as she put her arms through the straps. "Meet me by the door when you's ready," he murmured and she could hear the smile on his face. "Ya tryin' ta kill me, getting nekkid alone in a house with a man who's already asked you to let him try to be a gentleman. Them thugs could learn a thing or two about torture from you Elvina," he teased.

A hot flush rose into her cheeks as the closed the door behind him. She hurriedly dressed and laced her boots before checking every surface for her glasses, but couldn't find them. At the door, a surge of fear gripped her and she couldn't make herself take the next step alone. Images of the mess that Doug left the day before bombarded her mind's eye and made her sure that the path the the main room was still paved with debris waiting to pull her down. "Bays?" she called. "Come get me?"

"Your cane is about an inch away from your fingers and the hall is clear, Vie. You'll be fine. I'm right by the door with your glasses."

A pathetic whimper escaped her lips as she tried but failed to take that step. "Please, I'll fall."

She heard him take a few steps and then stopped. "You told me yesterday that you trust me. That still true?" She nodded, feeling for her cane and grabbing the knobbly head when she found it. "Then show me and come to me. Bren, Auggie and I cleaned everything up yesterday. One step at a time, Elvie. I ain't letting you take the easy way out." She took a step with her heart pounding so loudly in her chest that she could barely hear him over the top. "Be easier for me if I came and got you too, but it ain't about what's easy. This is your house, so walk." She remembered snapping at him to stop trying to make things easier on himself and do things her way. He was using her own words against her, but he was right. She'd always walked in her own house all on her own, and that wasn't going to change. Step by step, sweeping her cane in front of her to check for anything he missed she made her way out of the hallway and to him at the door where he wrapped her in a hug to reward her. She tucked her glasses onto her face and looked up into his heart melting grin. "C'mon, Vie."

He took her to the trolley stop and she listened intently to the driver as he called out the stops. Just like the day before that now felt like a lifetime ago, she absently twisted her hand in his suspender, holding him close. "We're going to Mrs. Frederick's then?" she asked, looking up at him.

He smiled sadly, his eyes warm molasses brown. "What was your plan, Ace? Just let Annabel show up in two days empty handed? You gotta tell her at least, even if she don't give you extra time."

"But what if she gives the work to someone else?" She had no other talent and only a very few other connections that weren't through Mrs. Frederick's and her business. If she lost that, she lost everything and they would be dependent on what the kids made with no savings to back them up.

He raised a brow. "You think she ain't gonna do that if you just don't have it?" She scoffed and sunk down in her seat while he chuckled at her naivety, but couldn't stay mad long, curling in to his side.

She hadn't seen Mrs. Frederick's since the day she started working again. She was sore and could barely stand the feeling of her dress brushing the open sores on her skin when the woman showed up at her door to enquire about her order. The apartment was messy and stunk of antiseptic and the younger kids were dirty and wild from having no one to care for them for a few days. Doug was doing his level best to keep Elvie's wounds from getting infected, but couldn't care for her and himself and all of his younger siblings as a ten year old boy. Mrs. Fredericks looked around like she had stepped into a hovel, and Elvie watched her through the one working eye she still had left. There was a bandage over the other to keep her from blinking and the older woman stared at her like she might be sick and add to the cleaning that Elvie knew wouldn't get done if she didn't do it. She'd told the woman she was a few days behind and that she'd get to work the next day, but Mrs. Fredericks wouldn't hear of it. She took the order and gave it to someone else, but had another list of items delivered the following week. Elvie completed that order and sent Doug to drop it off eighteen hours early, terrified that there wouldn't be another. The dressmaker warned Elvie about falling behind the first week the girl took over after her mother died, and except for when she could barely walk after the lashing she received on her father's behalf, she never had.

Stepping off of the hot street and into the stuffy store, made her feel faint. "May I help you?" Mrs Fredericks' vaguely famililar voice called.

Bays squeezed her hand and pushed her forward. "Mrs. Fredericks, my name is..."

"Elvie, dear!" the woman crooned, her dark shape moving closer and into the field that Elvie could see, sharpening from a dark blob into a buxom woman in her mid fifties. She was just as lovely as Elvie remembered her and her kind smile was the same. Her smart charcoal dress was the same as she had her girls wear, but her's had a little gold pin with a pair of reading glasses hanging from them and a measuring tape around her shoulders. She catered to the upper crust of New York society, but never forgot where she came from and did just as much work on the dresses in her shop as any of her assistants or seamstresses. "I was just about to put my hat on and come to you after Annabel got to work and told me what happened. You poor dear! How awful to have your home violated like that."

She stammered in shock. "Y-yes...well, I um..."

But Mrs. Fredericks interrupted her again. "I can't even imagine coming home to my home in shambles and I can make my way just fine, but you! Oh, the way Annabel described it! You poor thing, unable to even walk the halls in your own home!" Elvie scowled at the lies that had been told in her name. Annabel knew full and well that the house was clean when she left the night before, she was just sensationalizing the whole mess. A flash of copper and a squeak of fear behind the matron let Elvie know that her student was watching from the back room and knew that the lace maker's fierce expression was for her. "I don't want you to worry one bit about being late on that order, you get your home back just the way you like it and send the pieces in with one of your siblings or Annabel as you finish. I'll just tack a few extra days onto turnaround. No one will even notice."

Elvie stared at the woman in disbelief, sure that somewhere alone the way she misunderstood something. "You...you're not going to give the work to someone else? Like the last time I was late?"

The woman's salt and pepper eyebrows knitted together and she slowly reached forward, cupping Elvie's face in her hands in a motherly way. "Elvina, dear, when I walked into your home that day after hearing through the grapevine what happened to you, I could barely think. Honestly, you didn't look like you would make it through. Your mother was my friend and I promised her I would take care of you, help you along as you found your footing, and that day, the only way I could think to help you was to take some of the burden off of you. I didn't give the order to another laciere to take away your work, I did it to let you rest." Her soft, powdered hand ran down the scars on Elvie's cheek and she smiled proudly, "Besides, my customers wouldn't stand for it. They would know, they say that they've never had finer lace goods than the ones you make Elvie, I think you're actually better than your mother." It was meant as a compliment, but it felt like a jab.

"I don't understand," she sputtered, pulling away from the kind touch. "You always said that if I fell behind..."

The older woman laughed, "You were elven! Demanding to take on all the work that it took both you and your mother to complete in a week. You wouldn't listen to reason!" Elvie scowled as Bays chuckled behind her. "You've long since earned my faith in your resilience, Elvie. I know that you will finish everything and get it to me as quickly as you can, without a dingle doubt. Now, let this nice young man take you back home."

"Yes, Ma'am," Bays said obediently, but also just a touch mockingly, and stepped forward, putting his elbow next to her hand to take. "Vie, you comin'? I gotta get you home and hustle back up here for work."

As they reached the door, she stopped and pulled away from him, "Mrs. Fredericks, thank you, for being so understanding. I promise it won't happen again."

She heard the dressmaker laugh. "Take care, Elvie."

Once they were out on the street, she still couldn't wrap her head around the lenience she'd been shown. She was sure it was pity. "Wipe that sourpuss off ya face," Bays ordered jokingly. "That's called 'kindness' and its about damn time someone showed you it was out there in the world. That woman obviously cares about you, quit thinking the worst of everybody!"

"That's rich coming from the likes of you!" a thickly accented voice called out. "Clara, I don't think you can shop here no more if they's letting bums like this guy in the door."

He leaned down, "It's my pal Race and his wife. You want to say hello?" She nodded stiffly, still not believing him about Mrs. Fredericks. "Heya Racetrack, Clara, what are you two doing here?"

"Clara needs to get some of her dresses let out beca...oof!" The couple walked close enough for her to see just in time for the petite redhead to elbow her husband in the ribs. "Ow!" he cried.

"Elvie, this here's Racetrack Higgins and his wife, Clara. I work with Race at the hotel and we was newsboys together." She smiled and squinted to try to see more of them, they were a respectable distance away which meant they were still too far for her to make out many details. They were both smaller, Racetrack was about the same height as she was and Clara wasn't much taller than Adrienne. Clara's hair was the same lovely auburn that Annabel had. "Race and Clara, Elvie Gamble."

"Boy, I been waiting to shake your hand since yesterday! Anyone who clocks this bum is on my good side," Race said taking her hand and shaking it.

"Leave her alone, Tony," Clara admonished. Elvie's face flushed and Clara stepped closer, letting her gorgeous face and bright green eyes come into focus. She was so close, the kind of close Elvie needed. "Hello, Elvie. Its nice to meet you finally after hearing so much about you from Skittery."

She looked up to find his handsome but bruised face turned deeply red. "You talk about me?"

Clara giggled, "A lot, I'd say he's smitten. He even started behaving at work because of you."

Elvie snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it."

Racetrack broke into a fit of loud, high pitched laughter. "The blind girl said she'd believe it when she sees it!" he crowed while Clara giggled lightly and Bays rolled his eyes. Elvie chuckled quietly, not because she found what she said all that funny, but because Racetrack's over the top reaction was too funny to not laugh at. When he calmed and was wiping his dark eyes he looked back at her, "Oh yeah, we's keeping you. You broke his nose and give him the kind of grief he deserves! Marry this one, Skits. Tomorrow, before she gets away." Both Elvie and Bays shifted uncomfortably, despite being infatuated with one another, neither was ready for that kind of a step.

Clara slapped his chest to shut him up. "What brings here? Mrs. Fredericks makes all of my dresses, were you ordering something?"

Elvie shook her head. "I couldn't afford anything so nice. I make all of the lace for Mrs. Fredericks; we had business to discuss."

"Well, that makes this package that Jack dropped off this morning at the hotel for Skittery make a whole lot more sense," Race said as he pulled a brown paper wrapped package out of the inner pocket of his loud green and yellow plaid waistcoat and placed it in Elvie's hand.

She squeezed it, the familiar feeling of rolls of lace wrapped in paper forcing a relieved gasp from her lips. She held it out to Bays, "Is it all there?"

He opened it. "Five of 'em," he answered.

Tears sprang to her eyes and misted her glasses. "Thats all of it," she buried her face in Bays side and cried in relief while he held her close.

"There's a note too, Vie. You want me to read it?" She nodded. "Your brother is safe and his debt is paid. Holding him in my custody to work off his debt to me. He couldn't get anyone to let him pawn your lace, but I was unable to retrieve any of your money. Apologies. -CF"

"CF is your friend?" she sniffled.

"Race's friend, but yeah. He's good for finding people." He pulled her in tighter and kissed the top of her head. "Lemme get you home so I ain't late to work, huh?" They said their good byes to Race and Clara and got back on the street car to head back down town. Elvie never let that paper packet out of her hand, she was indebted to CF. Whoever he was.

 _A/N: Sorry about the long wait y'all! I never meant to let it get to be more than a week, but adulting took priority, and there was that thing where Elvie and Skits wouldn't get out of the damn bed! These two are going to kill me, they are so "hungry" for each other that its hard to get them away from each other long enough to move the plot forward! Next we go to Monday night dinner! Read, review and I'll try not to let a whole week pass by before the next chapter comes out!_


	12. Chapter 12

If there ever was a worse waiter than Joshua Welinski, Skittery hadn't met him. The kid was a menace and was costing the hotel a fortune in broken china. Joshua was so bad that Skittery spent a good portion of Monday morning trying to get Blink to own up to playing a prank. He wasn't sure if the prank was on Davey, in that Blink hired a worse waiter than Skits pretended to be or on Skittery himself because he had to train the bozo, but he was sure it was a gag. Sure, his constant questioning of why they had to do everything that David said they had to do was exhausting and his pranks and misbehavior against his boss and friend weren't the greatest traits in an employee, but they were not deserving of this kind of cruel punishment. Blink claimed Joshua was just a kid who needed a leg up. Regardless of what the kid needed, Skits spent the entire morning teaching him to set tables and still had to reset the entire dining room before they opened for lunch. Lunch service was miserable, despite the slow foot traffic. Joshua forgot things, dropped people's plates and even managed to spill an entire pitcher of lemonade in the lap of a visiting diplomat. Skittery ended up serving every table in the dining room alone with Joshua at his heels, just watching. An hour after the last lunch customer left, he was still trying to get the room reset for dinner. He was supposed to be on the trolley headed to Elvie's to pick her up for Monday night dinner with the other ex newsboys and their girl's, but at the rate they were going he was afraid that if he left, there wouldn't be a dining room to come back to. He shoved his hair back in frustration as he watched the blond haired, blue eyed kid, who was barely more than a teenager, pile dirty dishes up his arms only to drop them with a jarring crash a few steps later. Skits sighed and went to the kitchen to grab a wash tub to pile all of the fragments on. His first time with a girl who was still around long enough to get invited to Monday night dinner with everyone and he was about to miss it because some sob story off the street was a bad waiter.

In the kitchen, he was so focused on getting through the rest of this agonizing shift so that he could get to Elvie, that he almost didn't notice Joey and Jabber sitting at Bernard's chef's table stuffing themselves with food. Blink stepped out of his office, "You're still here? I thought you were off to the Lower East already!"

"I should be," he spat back, grabbing a tin tub and a bus cart, "but that genius you hired is making everything take three times as long! I'm still trying to get set for dinner, never mind changing my clothes or getting my date!" He slammed the tub down on the metal cart. The loud sound that echoed his frustration also made the two streetwise boys at the chef's table yelp and jump out of their seats. Skittery grinned, "Heya boys, whatdya know?"

Jabber smiled around a mouthful of food, but Joey sat down heavily and scowled. "Ain't you s'posed to be with my sister?" he asked.

Skittery chuckled and ruffled Joe's hair up as he passed with his cart and his tub. Joey was so eerily like Elvie with his serious demeanor and rare smiles that he was always glad to see him. "Sure am, but I'm stuck babysitting until we're all set to open back up for supper." Joshua crashed through the swinging door, red faced with his arms loaded with broken china and Skits rolled his eyes. "Sometimes work's gotta come first. Gotta make sure I can pay my way."

"Family always come first," the kid grumbled and stuffed his mouth with Bernard's fresh bread. Skittery stopped in his tracks and looked down at the serious, surly, little kid. His displeasure at Skittery putting work first gave Skits pause. Elvie was probably going out of her mind waiting for him. She was already nervous about meeting all the people and keeping them all straight with just a voice to go on. Joey turned his amber brown eyes back up to him, all the gruffness and bravado gone and said, "When can I see my brother, Bays?"

The man smiled and thought of Tumbler as Blink put his hat on and left the kitchen quietly, a knowing smile on his face. Andy wouldn't have rested until he knew his brother was all right and Joey was the same way. "I dunno, Kid," he said, crouching down, "that ain't up to me." He shoved his hair back, "You understand that he's the one who wrecked ya house and stole the money, right? He's the one who scared Elvie so bad?"

"Yeah, I know," Joe mumbled, grinding his toe against the leg of the table. The guilt at wanting someone back who he knew hurt his sister and him was plain, but family was important to them; they were all they had. Joey was so young when their mother died and their father stopped coming around regularly that Doug and Elvie were the only parents he knew.

Joshua was making his way back out to the floor, looking harried and frantic. Skittery pushed the cart away so it hit the teen as he rushed out. "Slow down, damnit! It's all your rushing that got us into this mess! Push the damn cart and treat everything like it's your grandmother's china!" Skittery scowled at the kid as he looked at the cart in confusion. He looked at Joey and rolled his eyes, spreading a wry grin across the kid's face, before turning back to his trainee and speaking very slowly and loudly. "Push cart, put dishes in cart, wipe tables." He raised his eyebrows at Joshua, searching for any sign of understanding. "Do not take more than one step with any more of my dishes!" Joshua hung his head and pushed the car out contritely while Skittery turned back to Joey. "He hurt Elvie, in the worst way he could doing that. He could have gone in and taken the money and left the house clean and she wouldn't have been so scared. He made a choice. A bad choice. You sure you want to see a guy who would do that to his own sister?"

Joey nodded and Jabber shifted in his seat uncomfortably, whether because he ate too much or because he didn't like the topic of conversation was hard to say. "Elvie and Auggie, they take care of me and Aide, but they work long hours and Elvie has the kids to feed and now you. Auggie works and takes care of Elvie. Doug was always around. I miss him."

He knew he was taking up some of the very small window of time that Elvie spent with her siblings, but he forgot that they'd also lost a brother at the same time. "I see," he said quietly, and looked up into the boy's serious face. "Tell you what, the guy who's helping Doug pay off his debt and hopefully leave the cards alone is gonna be here tonight. I'll see what I can do about getting you a visit." For the first time in the three weeks they'd known each other, the kid's eyes lit up and he flew out of his seat, and wrapped his arms around Skittery's neck. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, "No promises, now, alls I can do is ask. Carlos is a bit of a hard ass." Joey nodded and stepped back. "Good, now do me a favor, take Jabber to the dining room and show that nitwit out there how to bus a table. I'll give you each a nickel." The boys scrambled to their feet. He stayed crouched in the middle of the kitchen for a moment contemplating all the time he was spending with Elvie. In the four days since her house was vandalized, he'd only been away from her when he was at work and even those short separations felt like torture. She had quickly become his whole world. He had to wonder, though, if he was doing the right thing. She had so much on her plate already, maybe she didn't need an extra distraction like him in her life. He stood up and looked out into the dining room where Jabber and Joey were making quick work of bussing the remaining tables while Joshua cleaned up the mess he made and watched the two kids do his job easily with a bewildered expression. Skittery smirked at the scene for a bit before taking a deep breath and going to the front desk.

David stood behind the big mahogany desk with Nina by his side looking through the books for the week. His eyebrow flicked up, acknowledging his employee's approach, but he said nothing. Nina looked up and a smile spread across her elegant face. "Skittery!" she exclaimed in greeting. He grinned at her, ignoring David, and dramatically brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss as he bowed low.

" _Privet, krasavitsa_ ," he murmured in Russian making her giggle and blush.

"Albert," David said flatly, without looking up. "How's the new waiter working out?"

Skittery snorted derisively and rolled his eyes. "There's two ten year olds bussing your dining room right now and doing a better job of it than him," he answered smarmily.

David hmphed, surprising both his wife and Skittery. "As long as it gets done," he said absently. "You need to change before we eat, no uniforms on the floor while you're off duty."

"Uh, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. The kid is putting us behind. Could I send the carriage to get Elvie? I still got work to do and I was supposed to leave to get her awhile ago." It took every ounce of control he had to be respectful and talk to David like his boss and not his buddy, but for Elvie's sake, he did it. It was especially hard with David blowing him off. The young hotelier had stopped prowling around the dining room looking for him to screw up in the past week and he didn't want to go back to being watched all the time. He was enjoying the trust, even if work was a bit more boring.

Nina smiled, "Blink left to get Katy and Elvie about ten minutes ago." Her blue eyes glowed warmly despite their cold color. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and cleared it away, humbled that his friends would look after her that way. "I will take care of her when she gets here. You do your work and get cleaned up, _Dorogoy_."

David looked up, his icy blue eyes confused. "Did you just say there are ten year olds bussing my dining room?"

Skittery grinned, "Yep. And its the first time in the last three hours that I've gone more than a minute or two without hearing a dish break." Nina chuckled and Skittery grinned at her. "Be careful with her, she was nervous about meeting everybody."

The beautiful Russian dancer winked at him. "I will keep your Sparrow from flying away. Charming girl." Skittery and David met eyes and both began giggling uncontrollably. "What is funny?" she asked, but Skittery turned and fled, leaving her husband to try to explain his way out of it.

An hour later, the dining room of the Ben was reset and ready to open for supper with only moments to spare. When the couples of hotel employees came in, Skittery was checking the place settings, measuring them and moving plates and forks. When the dining room door opened he looked up and hurried to finish. Katy hung back on Blink's arm as he held the door for Carlos and a very, very pregnant Sophie to pass by. The Spaniard shot him a dark look across the dining room and put a protective hand over Sophie's hard belly. He chuckled to himself, wondering what kind of pain in the ass Doug was making of himself to earn that kind of glare. Mush ushered Vivian in, who cradled a tiny baby in her arms. It was Viv's first time going anywhere with the new baby. Race and Clara followed, joking and last was Nina with Elvie on her arm and David behind them. Jack and Natalia were always late and always came in with their hair mussed and their lips swollen because their time away from both Hazel and work was limited. They took advantage of every single moment.

Thankfully, he was able to get a second waiter to come in for an extra shift so that Joshua had a second person to shadow. Originally, it was supposed to be Mathew and and Joshua alone, but the lunch shift proved that he wasn't ready for that, so Sam was called in to cover. David stopped at the door in surprise watching him ensure that every plate and piece of silver was precisely where it should be, but Skittery just kept going. He had to finish so he could run upstairs and change.

Nina walked slowly with Elvie, who didn't quiet trust the lovely Russian yet judging by her tentative steps and the way she hadn't tucked her cane away. He finished the last place setting and went to the table where they always sat just in time to pull Elvie's chair out for her. "Bays" she sighed, as he pushed the chair in. She leaned into him in relief and he pulled her cane from her grip, grinning.

"What if I was just some waiter and you got all mushy like that, huh?" he whispered in her ear. She only braided the top half of her hair, leaving the back waving down her back in downy masses for him to nuzzle his face in as he pushed her chair in. Her powdery blue eyes were closed and a soft smile graced her face. His heart sped up just looking at her, even from over her shoulder like he was. She was dressed the same as always in her plain white shirt and dark colored skirt, but he was sure that he'd never seen her wear a necklace before and a lovely lilac colored stone hung around her neck on a brass chain.

"Wouldn't happen," she answered, shaking her head slowly, her scarred cheek pressed against his. "I'd know you anywhere." He chuckled and nuzzled deeper into her hair and her neck. It was only then that the relative silence of his normally noisy friends caught up to him. He looked up and all eyes were on them. All the women were cooing and all the men smirking. "They're all staring, aren't they?" she whispered, her skin growing hot against his own. He nodded and kissed her cheek. "I'm still in my work clothes. I gotta run upstairs real quick. You'll be ok another few minutes?"

Her cheek bunched as she smiled under his lips, "Shockingly, I don't wither away and die when you're not around. Go. You smell."

"Gee, thanks," he laughed. "You really know how to make a guy feel appreciated." He excused himself and ran up the back stairs to change.

Carlos was waiting for him when he came out of his room, still tucking his shirts in. The Spaniard leaned against the wall in the corridor, looking calm and casual until the door closed when he rounded on Skittery, pinning him to the wall without ever touching him. "Does she know?"

Skittery hated himself for cringing away from the heated glare and close proximity. "She knows that you got her brother and are trying to straighten him out, that's it." He tried to keep his voice even and low, despite the panic growing in his gut. He'd tried to figure out the right thing to tell her about Carlos before tonight. He knew she wouldn't appreciate being lied to when the truth finally came out, but he'd rationalized that it was for her own good. "She don't know that Carlos and Tomas are the same guy. I wanted her to see who you are now before I told her. You ain't that kid no more. Just like she ain't."

Carlos' glare somehow got hotter. "What the hell, Bays?" he cried. "I can't just change what I look like; I can't just will my eyes into being brown. She remembers too much! She'll know the first time she sees me."

"So stay back. She can't make out the details past about four feet." He cringed inside, feeling so utterly wrong but doing nothing to stop it. It would be better in the end. She couldn't keep being afraid, and if she figured out that Carlos wasn't coming to get her every time her father or her brother got into trouble, her life would be better for it. All of the Gamble kids' lives would be better if she could let go of that memory. "Let her hear your voice, see how you are with Sophie and the others. Just keep your distance. She can't keep torturing herself and her family like she is. She needs to learn to trust."

Carlos swiped his hand down his face, "Doug knows. He knew as soon as he saw me."

"Yeah, Elvie's always saying he's smart. He counts cards, thats why he bets so big. He don't lose; he gets caught in the scam."

Carlos nodded, "He's the bad kind of smart. Smart enough to know he's smarter than everyone else. Smart enough to think he won't get caught. But that ain't the point, Bays. He knows and right now he's pissed that I won't let him go on his way. He's threatening to get to Elvie and tell her about me and that we're friends."

Skittery rolled his eyes, he didn't need to be lectured. Doug was a snot nosed weasel and Elvie didn't trust him. She would listen to her Bays over the brother that destroyed her house out of spite. Carlos didn't know what he was talking about. "Friends is a bit of a strong word. I'd call us acquaintances."

Carlos growled, not liking being interrupted for jokes. "Point is, you need to tell her on your terms before he does. Jack's doing his best to keep the kid occupied and exhausted..."

"Doing what?"

Carlos grinned and looked both menacing and mischievous. "Call it the 'Trout Cooper Self Improvement Method,'" he answered, staring Skits down, knowing he was one of a very few who knew what that really meant. Skittery's eyes grew wide. He remembered vividly going outside behind the Italian restaurant he worked at as a bus boy and then a waiter when he quit selling papers to get Trout when he'd take too long of a break and find him asleep sitting up in the alley. He'd gotten Trout the job when the big guy left Brooklyn after Spot did, after all the gang nonsense they went through. He couldn't find a real job, no one would hire him because he couldn't talk so he and the other newsboys got him part time work where and when they could until he had a regular rotation. Trout helped at Irving Hall, standing in for musicians when they were sick, taking care of props, sweeping the theater, whatever Medda needed done, and then he'd go to the docks in the wee hours of the morning and unload the fishing boats and then he'd sleep for a few hours and go work at Emilio's busing tables. The guy didn't know which way was up after a few months until one day he just stopped showing up at Emilio's. Skittery hadn't questioned it, Trout looked like he needed a week of sleep, he figured the guy actually found a way to get some finally. Carlos sighed, the grin falling, "But I can only keep this going so long. When this blows up in your face, don't come crying to me."

Skittery scowled. "It ain't gonna blow up. She takes awhile to warm up to new stuff, but she does it if someone is there to push her and be there for her. That's been me and it will keep being me." Staring the blue eyed man down he remembered Joey. "The kid brother wants to see him. You think we can arrange that?"

Carlos snorted and looked him up and down, taking in his half dressed appearance. "It ain't a good idea, but then again neither is any of the rest of this. You planning on fixing any of that?" He waved his hand vaguely at Skittery.

Skittery grinned looking down at his open outer shirt, exposed pink undershirt and hanging suspender straps. "Yup, just not yet. I'm off the clock, that means Davey can't do nothing about it." He ran his hand through his hair, roughing up the sleek style he combed it into for work and letting his natural curls take shape. "Let's go before someone thinks we's got something going on on the side."

Carlos raised an ebony brow, "Don't we?" Skittery laughed aloud and slapped the Spaniard on the back and headed down the stairs.

A/N: Sigh, oh Skittery, this is bad. Anyway, more of dinner to come from Elvie's POV. Happy Easter to those who celebrate it.

What Skittery says to Nina is "Hello, Beautiful." And Nina calls him Dear (Dorogoy). Please keep the reviews coming, they are so amazing. Hopefully, I can keep Elvie from jumping Skits in public and get her opinion on Skits buddies and their wives instead.


	13. Chapter 13

Her breath drew in involuntarily as Blink led her into the grand lobby. She'd begged him to take her in the back, which he scoffed at. Even though there were crates, mop buckets and room service carts to contend with, the confines of the narrow corridors were less jarring to her senses than the overwhelmingly vast grandeur of The Benjamin Hotel lobby. He stopped and waited while she raised her eyes to the high vaulted ceiling of the atrium. Even though she couldn't see even a fraction of the height, she could sense it in the way the breeze moved and the echo of the sounds as they rolled upward. "Awright there?" Blink asked. She nodded and he stepped again, taking her further into the never-ending cavern as her nerves bubbled and frothed in her gut. A hand, cool and soft, touched her's on her blind side and her body jolted into Blink's while a yelp forced its way out of her mouth. His arm wrapped around her shoulders. "It's ok," he said, "it's just Nina." She could hear the grin appear in his voice. "She snuck up on us."

Elvie looked over and could make out Nina stranding just out of her clearer field of vision and took a shuddering breath. They didn't know, none of them understood the rules, she told herself. But then she gulped, because her rules no longer applied. She was out, in and of the rest of the world now and just like Beth assured her, her rules meant nothing and helped nothing. She had to be bigger, just like this new world of hers. She couldn't see much of Nina, but being no stranger to being hurt and soothing others, she knew the posture. "Nina," she said, holding her hand out towards the other woman. "I can't see on that side. Please, just tell me before you touch me." The Russian ballerina's lithe form stayed rigid and still. Her violet dress stood out against the greens of the velvets and the deep browns of the mahogany and leather that adorned the space. Elvie had never seen woods, not even the wilder, more wooded areas of Central Park, but she imagined that this room felt like a forest would be like. Nina looked like a wildflower in that forest. She let go of Blink's arm and the safety he offered to slowly walk on her own, closing the distance between she and Nina. "Just stay to my left so I can see you," she assured, putting her hand on Nina's arm, the decadent raw silk slipping beneath her fingers. It was bizarre to comfort someone else when it was her boundaries that were crossed, but these people didn't know and were doing their best. More importantly, they meant something to Bays. They were his friends and she would over look things not for them, but for him. Her hand slid down Nina's arm and the fabric gave way to a lace ruffle at her elbow. The familiar crinkle and stretch of knotted thread soothed her bruised feelings. "Two inch Rambling Rose with an eyelash trim," she murmured. "Lovely."

Nina looked down and inspected the lace at her sleeve as if for the first time. "David chose this dress, as a gift."

A flash of red preceded another voice. "Did you make it Elvie?" Clara asked.

She smiled at the redhead, whose ivory skin and fiery hair looked even more vibrant than usual above her deep red dress. Elvie took note of their dresses so that she could keep track of where everyone was, tracking the colors as they moved around. Her brow furrowed as she rubbed the threads between her fingers. "It's hard to say since I only sign my work at the end of a piece of yardage."

"Mrs. Fredericks couldn't stop gushing about you the other day," Clara answered with a smile. "It turns out, you made my wedding dress."

Elvie let go of Nina and ran her hands across Clara's slim shoulders and down her sides, measuring the petite beauty. "Look out!" Race cried, "Skits' girl is getting fresh with mine!"

"Like you's gonna stop it!" Blink jeered before Clara shushed them both. Elvie's hands hesitated over Clara's lower abdomen and their eyes met. The redhead silently pleaded her to keep quiet about the swell she felt, carefully hidden by red sateen.

She nodded, "Snow white with a forget-me-not pattern last summer. It was one of the prettiest ones I've made." A squeal of excitement pealed through the air, bouncing around the high ceiling, making both Nina and Elvie cringe, but Clara smiled and excused herself. Elvie watched as the red dress receded and joined another shapeless blob of color.

"Sophie and Carlos are here," Nina murmured in her ear, pointing towards the large puff of dusty pink that Clara's red had gone to. "She and Clara are quite close. This is why they make that noise when they are together." Her voice was so disdainful that Elvie laughed. She knew that she liked Nina from the moment they met in the hotel kitchen, the dry wit with which she treated the more outgoing girls' exuberance assured Elvie that she made a good choice. "Sweet girls," Nina continued, "but terrible for the ears when they are together." As if they were cued by her words, Clara and Sophie began a rapid and excited conversation that was punctuated with little squeals and giggles. "We leave them to...whatever that is and go see Vivian and her baby. You have met Katy?" She nodded and let Nina walk her the few feet to Vivian and her husband. Nina walked too slow and her dancer's muscle control meant that she fairly glided over the marble floor. Elvie had never met anyone who walked so seamlessly and it made her nervous.

Vivian was sweet and quiet, much more Elvie's speed than Clara and Racetrack, as was her husband who Elvie quickly realized was Mush, even though both Vivian and Nina introduced him as Alex. Vivian was wearing blue, helping her at least continue to keep the women straight even from a distance. "Now you have only to meet Sophie and Carlos. Well, and Jack with my Natalia, but they will not be here till later."

"They had other plans first?" Elvie asked.

Nina laughed, "Only each other. They are always late, off in some dark corner trying to eat each other alive." Nina's dark eyebrows waggled, "So much passion, so little time, those two." As they laughed, Nina led her over toward's the pink blur of Sophie Fuentes. The sweet looking blond chatted amicably with Clara, her large, pregnant belly encircled by the arms of a man with dark hair, but Nina kept her too far back to see much of him, trying to wait until the two women's conversation wound down. It didn't take long to realize that without help, Clara and Sophie would never stop talking. "Sophie, darling," Nina crooned, politely, if a little forcefully. Her low purr of a voice cut through the chatter like a warm spoon in ice cream. Elvie loved to listen to her talk, the elongated vowels and the crisp way she ended sounds that were soft but slushed the ones that were normally cut like crystal. V's were W's and W's were V's and anything that ended in "ing" got a K added to the end like a sweet going away kiss. "Come, say hello to Elvie." Sophie started to move, trying to drag Carlos behind her. He struggled out of her grip and grunted something at her shortly before breaking away to go over to where Racetrack and Blink were.

"Carlos!" the blonde called after him, but he didn't so much as pause. She sniffed for a moment before she plastered a smile back of her pink face and got closer. She shook Elvie's hand and her face got even redder, "I'm so sorry about Carlos; I don't know what's gotten into him." Tears welled in her big green eyes, and even teary and upset she looked beautiful. She wasn't a radiant beauty that might stop anyone on the street, but she had a simple, wholesome prettiness about her. Her lip trembled, "And now I'm crying because I'm just so pregnant! I promise we're not this much of a mess normally."

"Go to him," Nina encouraged and Sophie didn't need any more than that slight push. Blink opened the restaurant doors and Nina stepped forward. "Come, we can go sit."

Nina started to move but Elvie pulled back, putting her cane out while Nina watched curiously. "It's not that I don't trust you..."

Nina laughed, "Isn't it?"

"No!" She shook her head, afraid that she insulted her new friend. "You just don't move when you walk and I need that movement! You float. It's like your feet don't touch the floor! I can't avoid things to trip on if I can't feel you step over or around them." There was something deliciously liberating about just blurting out what she needed. She put her hand back on Nina's elbow and nodded. Thankfully Nina took the cue to lead, and Elvie followed, swinging her cane just in case.

"Maybe I should skip, plié my way to the dining room, eh? Then you feel me move."

Elvie grinned, "Only if you drag me along behind. I wouldn't want to miss that."

She heard him before she had a chance of seeing hims, still scurrying to finish the last bit of prep work in the dining room. His footsteps, somehow both leisurely and meaningful at the same time approached and she felt her skin heat up. His hands gripped her chair and seated her and it was as if her whole body relaxed in response to his presence. Once he was gone, Elvie felt Bays' absence keenly. Nina kept talking to her while the others spoke quietly to one another and Vivian gave the baby to Mush and came to sit in Bays' abandoned seat. "How are you holding up?" Viv asked. "We've gotten to be such a big group, I can't imagine being the new person with all of this. Shame on Skittery for leaving you alone."

"He was still in uniform," David interjected flatly from across the table. The others settled into easy conversation while Elvie listened, placing the different voices and people by what she could see and hear. Vivian stayed next to her in the seat that Bays would take back when he returned, Nina at the foot of the table to her other side and David across from her. The newlyweds talked quietly amongst themselves, occasionally lending a word here or there into the different conversations. David's adoration for Nina was so plain in the reverence with which he spoke to her that it made Elvie admire the man who Bays always made out to be a bore. Vivian's seat sat empty between David and Mush who was engaged in a wild recount of something that happened in Brooklyn with a lot of kerosene with Race and Blink. Race's seat was across the two empty places left for Natalia and Jack with Clara at the head where she was eagerly tittering away with Sophie still. Katy sat between Carlos' empty seat and Blink laughing at the antics of the boys in their younger years, but Elvie quaked as she attempted to take it all in on her own.

Viv reached out slowly and put her soft hand over Elvie's. "Don't worry," she murmured. "If you want to just blend in, its easy. They could keep going like this all night." She flashed an amused smile, "They manage to keep themselves respectable while they're here for the most part, mostly because they work different places and at different times, but as soon as they are out of uniform and off the clock, they're right back at the lodging house on Duane Street." She rolled her delicate blue eyes with a smile. "You can't keep a newsboy down."

"Or shut them up," Nina finished, her dry wit once again easing Elvie's nerves. Even David laughed.

Just as Elvie was beginning to worry about Bays extended absence, Vivian's hand raised to stifle a giggle as her eyes grew wide with shock. "Oh. My. Word." Elvie looked up in time to see a flush of red on David's cheeks, but couldn't see enough to tell why.

"What's going on?" she whispered to Vivian as the rest of the table burst into laughter. but Vivian was giggling too hard to answer.

"Ha!" Racetrack yelled, "Pay up, Red!" as a figure approached and finally Elvie was let in on the joke. Bays sauntered up to the table, his shirt half tucked and unbuttoned, his suspenders at his sides and his hair a wild mess, just like she preferred it.

A coin plunked down on the table and Clara warned Race about bragging. Skittery passed behind David on his way back, who stood and stopped the disheveled waiter with an arm. "Skittery," he snapped disapprovingly.

But Bays just as quickly answered back, "Mouth," in a mocking imitation of his employer's tone, but a smirk tainted the sincerity.

"This restaurant has a dress code," David warned.

"Don't I know it," Bays answered with a grin. "Sorry Davey, gotta get my jollies in when I'm off the clock." He pulled his suspenders up onto his shoulders and buttoned his shirt as he moved around the table, looking most of the way respectable by the time he sat down next to Elvie.

"Did you get lost?" she asked smugly as he settled in.

He chuckled, reaching a long arm across the back of her chair. The warmth of his skin let her settle back as well and she looked over at him as he answered her. "Nah, just had to take care of something first. You ok?"

His half of an answer irked her, but she said nothing. She wanted to just enjoy everything, enjoy his friends and his company, so she tucked it away, scolding herself for being so negative. With a nod she decided to change to subject. "You just called David 'Mouth.'"

"That was his newsie name," Blink supplied. "The Walking Mouth." David grumbled under his breath haughtily and scoffed.

Disbelief swirled in her mind and she couldn't contain the laugh that escaped when she tried to think of stern, proper David as a newsboy. "Crazy, right?" Bays asked. "But it's true. He's the reason we won the strike, because it wasn't just bummers like us beating each other stupid." He took her hand and squeezed it, "Little know fact, boys, the Walking Mouth is not only good for strikes, protests and hoity toity hotels, he is also does a few charmingk imitations of people." He turned and winked at Elvie roguishly. It was fascinating to see him among his friends. Somewhere inside her, she'd held tightly to a fear that she would come and he would suddenly be someone completely different around them than he was with her. That the charm and care that he showed her would be replaced with something else, something darker and less...just less. Something she had to fear or couldn't respect. But he was exactly himself. Teasing, pushing boundaries and generally making sure that no one had a comfort zone. She smiled to herself and settled into his arms as David jumped up in indignation.

"Skittery!" the normally respectable hotelier squawked.

At the foot of the table, Nina sat up straighter, hearing the familiar lilt of her own accent in Skittery's jest. She turned to her husband, "David? Something you wish to share?"

David growled under his breath and even Elvie could feel the frost from his icy glare. "Davey does impressions of Nina?" Race exclaimed. "This I gotta hear!"

"Yes, Dorogoy," Nina purred in amusement, "what is it you think I sound like?" David plopped down in his seat like a petulant teenager and continued to glare across the table. Nina stood up and squared her shoulders. When she spoke, she contained her accent as much as she could and made her voice sound nasal and snobbish. "The Benjamin is the finest hotel in all of New York...no! The world! If it weren't against the law, I would have married Ben years ago and never noticed Nina!" As she spoke she gestured in ways that made everyone laugh, proving how well she knew her husband even though they'd only been married a few months.

Everyone laughed and wiped their eyes, but still David refused to show his impression of Nina, so the other men (besides Carlos, who sat so still and quiet that Elvie almost forgot he was there until his low laugh would rumble across, deeper than the others) also did their impressions of David while the women took little jabs at their husbands. Even David couldn't hide his soft chuckles from Elvie, though he managed to blank his face most of the time. They granted Elvie clemency since she and Bays were so new, but when they got back around to Nina she looked at him expectantly. "Well?" she asked. "Don't be stick in the mud, fuddy duddy."

Finally, he stood and shuffled his feet, scuffing his soles against the shiny marble as a crooked little smile spread over his tense and serious face. He somehow made his neck look longer and held his head at the same angle Nina tended to. "Vat's your's is mine, yes? Eef ballet company vas run the vay you run this hotel you know vhere director end up? Eh?" He poked his finger playfully into Nina's ribs, making her giggle. "Frizzing on de strits of Sent Pietersborg! Fire dem all! Show dem who is boss!" He turned his icy blues over to she and Bays, widening them and batting his eyelashes, "All except Skittery. Leave my half vit favorite out of eet. You do as I say and hotel run like Russian Ballet!" He stepped into a giggling Nina and dipped her low as if they had been dancing. "I told you, time and again, I'd listen to you read from the ledger. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." He stood her back on her feet blushing and swooning before turning to the others, "The rest of you, just remember I can fire you whenever I want."

Everyone clapped for his performance while Nina sat back in her chair looking a bit dazed and starstruck. Elvie found herself a little bit smitten with the lot of them. Her heart ached over the years she spent alone hiding from the wrong people. These people were warm and kind, just like so many she could have befriended over the years, but she'd shied away to protect herself.

As the applause died down, one clap remained loud and steady, rising above the others. "I ain't seen a show like that since Davey tried to talk Spot Conlon into striking!" a jovial voice called from across the room.

Elvie was opening her mouth to ask who that was when Nina jumped out of her seat and cried, "Natalia!" joyfully and broke into excited Russian. She had to grin listening to the two girls speak in their native tongue, since they sounded comically more like Sophie and Clara than like the sarcastic, snarky woman Nina showed herself to be earlier. "Jack and Natalia?" Elvie murmured up to Bays who nodded.

"Davey, you letting the help eat with us muckety-mucks now?" Jack called, pulling a chuckle out of Bays, who nudged her off of him so he could stand and lean over the table to shake the newcomer's hand.

"What better company for the only man ever banished from the Ben?" Bays asked jovially as he leaned over the table. "How's it rolling, Cowboy?" There was a pause before Jack answered and Elvie looked up to Bays, seeing a slight nod of his head and squint of his eyes. Pain scorched into her heart as she realized there was a conversation going on, one that she was being decidedly kept out of. She looked to Nina, but Nina was still engrossed with Natalia.

"Can't complain," Jack answered, sauntering around the table to come closer to the two of them. "Who ya got there?"

Their silent conversation was still going on, She could hear it in every pause between their words. She could feel it in the tension rolling off of Bays even though he kept his voice smooth and light. "This here is Elvina Gamble, Elvie, meet the infamous Jack Kelly." Another uncomfortably long pause ensued while Elvie held her hand out into the empty air until Bays made an exasperated hiss beside her. "Jack is the worst P.I. in New York, but he puts up with Carlos so he's likely gonna be sainted at some point." A napkin flew down the table from the head, hitting Bays in the face and finally a warm, rough, sweaty hand filled her empty and waiting one.

"Its nice to finally meet you Jack," she said, staring up at him, almost missing the line down his cheek, so much like her own scars. "After listening to my brothers talk about you all of these years, its nice to finally meet the man behind the legend."

All of the men at the table booed and hissed. "Don't go blowing his ego up, Elvie!" Race whined. "There's hardly enough room for the rest of us as it is!"

"Don't believe none of it," he answered humbly, dipping his head and hiding his brown eyes from her. "Ain't none of it true 'sides Teddy Roosevelt's carriage. The rest was all Dave and the others, all I did was open my big mouth and get the ball rolling." He squeezed her hand and peaked up through his bangs at her before hurrying back to his seat. If it weren't for the awkward pauses, she would have convinced her self that he was nervous about her. That her eyes made him uncomfortable. It wouldn't have been the first time, but there was something else going on. She could feel it in her bones.

She sat very straight as Bays tried to wind his long arm back over her shoulders. "Everything ok, Vie?"

"I should be asking you that," she answered shortly. "What was that with Jack?" She stared him right in the eye, something she did very rarely with anyone but him and, true to himself, he looked completely guilty and flustered about it. "You know what I mean. There was something going on when you introduced us, something you weren't saying." Anger and mistrust barreled through her like a thunderhead, overtaking the tentative happiness that she'd felt most of the rest of the evening.

He sighed and leaned in closer. "Jack and Carlos are the ones helping Doug. I didn't want Jack blabbing ya private family business out in front of everyone." Bays sat back and looked into her eyes pleadingly and earnestly and she suddenly felt lower than the floor. Her eyes dropped to her fidgeting hands and he put his over the top, stopping the nervous movement. "He ain't got...whatsit called, Nina? When you say stupid shit out of turn?"

"Jack," David answered bluntly, sending their whole end of the table into stitches, even Jack.

When she could speak and be heard again, Nina answered, "Tact, Bratishka, lacking tact."

"Yeah, tact," Bays agreed. "Like Davey said, Jack ain't got none. I was just looking out for ya, Vie." Again, it just rubbed her wrong, but she tried to swallow it back. She felt bad for accusing him, but he was always so forthcoming, the clipped half answers and excuses were strange. He never protected her from the truth. Her chin tucked down, the only way to keep from scolding him was to keep her mouth shut. His hands covered her, smoothing over her knuckles and she took a deep breath, trying to clear away that mistrust. He'd only ever been kind. She had to stop assuming the worst of people. When she didn't look back up he put a menu near her, "You know what you want yet?" She picked up the paper and shook her head as her heart dipped in dread. The only words she could read on the page were "The Benjamin Hotel." No matter how close she brought the fine card stock, she couldn't make out enough of the words, the type was too small. He pointed, "The pea soup is good." His finger moved, gently guiding the menu away from her face. It was so close that her nose was nearly brushing it and her ears burned in embarrassment. "And here's that salmon with the green beans I told you about." She looked up and glared at him, shoving the menu towards him. She didn't want him to feed her the menu items, hiding them in what sounded like a perfectly normal conversation. All the secrecy was bringing to mind terrible thoughts; like that after all of this he might be ashamed of her and her blindness. Ashamed to have to lead her places and read for her. Her stomach turned and as bile rose in her throat, anger took hold of her heart.

"I can't read it. Pointing at the page doesn't fix me," she spat and stood quickly, but he took her cane when he sat her. Slowly, she moved away from the table with her arms out. She could see just well enough, that moving slowly she could get away without running into the tables, but she went the wrong direction and ended up against the large sunroom windows of the restaurant and just stayed there, feeling the warmth of the evening press in through the glass.

She heard the footsteps on the marble, those weightless footsteps. "Elvie, darlingk," Nina asked.

"If he wants someone perfect, he needs to leave me be. I can't see the menu and thats just how it is. He doesn't need to feed it to me like I'm fragile. He doesn't need to save me from Jack or anyone else. I just want the truth, all of it. I can't see it for myself, but I don't want it hidden from me."

The beautiful Russian moved closer, stepping up in the left, and chuckled, "Perfect doesn't suit him. He could have had a hundred perfect girls and yet he is still on his own." She slowly reached out, waiting for the movement to catch Elvie's attention before she moved any further, and Elvie nearly broke down. Nina was doing everything she was asked, and for some reason, all Elvie wanted her to do was be normal, like she would be with anyone else. "I've never seen him take so much care with another person before. You make him...more." She paused, pinching her face as she tried to find the English words she was looking for. "He pushes people, bad attitude and questions and jokes. He is not easy to get along with, but with you...he is sweet. I never thought I could say Skittery is sweet until you. I love him. He is my favorite besides David, but I never think he is sweet unless he is with the kids, your brother."

Elvie fumed at that. "I'm not a child! I own a business and feed other people, pay my rent on time and keep the lamps full of oil. I'm an adult! I don't need to be taken care of! By him or anyone else! I managed just fine before him and I will continue long after he gives up on me. If he want's a child to take care of, he can go to the orphanage and pick one out!"

Nina smirked and quirked an eyebrow. "I was mistaken, calling you a little songbird. You are a hawk. Fierce. I like that. Come back to the table; I will help."

She held her hand out, but Elvie held her chin up and shook her head. "I can do it. I got myself here; I can get myself back."

Nina nodded, but turned back before taking a step. "He will not give up, Elvie. None of us has seen him like this before. He doesn't know what he's doing, so tell him what to do. Tell him who is boss, be like Russian Ballet." She winked a beautiful deep blue eye and started walking slowly, letting Elvie follow her purple gown by sight as she wove through the tables back to the group of friends who were pretending they hadn't just been watching in rapt attention. She was almost there and had almost convinced herself that she should forgive Bays when he called out her name. She didn't get a chance to answer before something slammed into her on her righthand side and she went down with a crash and clatter than her body alone should have been able to make.

 _A/N: Holy crap that turned out long! I love Nina's relationship advice, lol. Be lit Russian Ballet! Keep the reviews coming, I love them so much! I will have the nest (rather steamy) installment up in a few days, I hope!_


	14. Chapter 14

Her mother would have said that it served her right after throwing such a disgraceful and childish temper tantrum. As Elvie sat on the cold marble floor with something thick and gloppy dripping from the top of her head and onto her shoulder and something cold and slimy plastered across her face, she couldn't help but agree. She didn't know where her glasses disappeared to in the collision between her and what she later was told was a bus cart, and it was she could hope that they weren't broken somewhere in the rubble and mess. She was too hard on Bays, he had the best of intentions and was still learning. She deserved to have her prideful spite knocked down a notch. "Elvie!" Bays yelped as the sound of his boots sliding on the food slicked marble hissed across her ears. He sat down hard with a grunt and slid into her, bumping her gently. "Are you ok? You lousy sack of shit! I oughta soak you!" It took a moment to realize that he was yelling at whoever ran into her, who was also on the floor. The anger bristling off of him charged the air and she wanted to soothe him, the way he was trying to soothe her as he ran the smooth pads of his thumbs across her gravy swathed cheeks. Something about the way he was trying to comfort her and berate the clumsy waiter who hit her with the bus cart at the same time melted away her anger and shock at the situation. The giggle was out of her mouth and ringing through the shocked silent restaurant before she could stop it. She should have been mortified. Bays friends probably thought she was hysterical, but the thought didn't shame her laughter into silence, in fact it only made it roll out more loudly. "Elvie," he asked warily.

All of his anger dropped as she howled leaving him in confused silence. "I'm sorry," she managed to stammer out between her cackles. Now, she was sure they all thought that she took a blow to the head. They murmured softly to each other while David and Blink began to chastise the waiter who sent her careening to the floor. She reached out for Bays, finding a wrist and continued to chuckle as she held onto him. "What the hell is all over my face?"

He finally gave in at the sound of her cursing and chuckled with her, though his was a bit more bewildered sounding than her rich belly laugh. He began to swipe a dry cloth over her skin to smear away the mess the overturned cart left all over her. "This here," he said as he scraped away whatever was on her head, "looks like tonight's special, beef stroganoff with egg noodles and a side of lingonberry preserves. And this," he wiped away the cold strings from her face that she thought were her hair, "is creamed spinach." He kept wiping and smearing until her skin was free of debris but still felt greasy and sticky all at once. "Last but not least," he said, wiping the shell of her ear, "this is creme anglaise."

"What's that?" she asked, her laughter finally calming and melting away, leaving peace in her mind for the first time that whole nerve wracking day.

"Vanilla custard," he answered, his voice still unsure sounding. "It's like ice cream before it gets frozen and Bernard puts it on cake."

"I've never had ice cream." She ran her hand up his arm to his elbow before stopping abruptly. "That is you, isn't it? I'm not holding on to the person I ran into, am I?"

Finally he relaxed and laughed. "It's me, Vie." He gently pulled her to her feet and moved slightly around her, checking her for bumps and bruises. "And you didn't run into no one. You was broadsided. You awright? You hurt?"

"I'm...disgusting!" She giggled, still feeling the gooey sauces dripping down the arm of her blouse. "Can you see where my glasses got to?"

He squeezed her hand and moved away from her, returning quickly. "I got em. They's just as dirty as the rest of you, but they ain't broke. Are you ok, Vie? Be straight with me."

She smiled sadly and shook her head, wishing she could see well enough to look him in the eye. She wanted to see his face, his reaction to her needs. She needed to know that he understood. Her hand ran up his sleeve, no doubt leaving a trail of slime in its wake, and came to rest on his cheek. "I'm never anything but straight with anyone. It's you who has proven to be less than truthful." He wilted under her touch and she sighed. "I don't like that you and Jack were having a conversation about me that I couldn't be a part of. Knowing that it was happening and not being able to participate was far worse than any blunt thing he could have blurted out. I need the truth even if it hurts my feelings. Listening to them talk is all I have to judge them on, and if I need to learn the hard way that Jack is tactless or that Carlos doesn't like me, then so be it. I need to learn those things, not have you protect me from them. Let me make my mistakes and decide for myself." He slowly nodded his head, never letting her hand pull away, placing his over the top to hold her there. His skin was just as covered in grease and food as hers and her thumb slid back and forth easily across his cheekbone while he leaned in, soaking up her affection like a sponge. "And," she added quietly, "next time just ask me if I need help with the menu. You don't have to hide that I can't make out the print sometimes. I AM blind, Bays. It's not a secret."

A harsh sigh ripped out of him as he jerked away, leaving her standing in the blur, but she wasn't afraid. He was near, he wouldn't leave. She was surprised that she knew that without question. She didn't need to be touching him to know he was there and not leaving. "So, I'm just supposed to let you squint and get ink on ya nose while I'm right there and could be helping you?"

A lop sided smile curled her mouth up and she laughed quietly at his dramatics while furtively rubbing her nose. "Yes. Yes, exactly. I have to get over my pride and my need to control and ask for help. You have to stop saving me...especially from myself. I'm a big, grown up girl, not one of the street kids you can take care of."

"What if I like taking care of you?"

"What about when you're not here?" she asked calmly, not meaning that she wanted to be without him, but knowing that he would take it that way. "What do I do then? Just sit around and wait for someone else to come along who is willing to? The last person who was willing to take care of me has been dead eight years. I can't stay locked up in my apartment for the next eight if tomorrow you decide to go and not come back. You've changed everything and we need to figure out what that means for me."

He was so close. She could feel the heat coming off his body, the prickle of his anger and the weight of his guilt. All of it pressed into her as he stood in front of her with only inches between them. "I am not going anywhere," he hissed in her face. "Stop pushing me away." She could have leaned forward and touched him. She could have leaned a hair more and kissed him, but she was enjoying the challenge he was presenting her with. She would not be the one to back down. This was a boundary she was going to insist on.

They stood facing off in stony silence for what felt like hours. The floor was cleaned up around them, the waiter, the one who had plowed into her was sacked and sent on his way and the others resumed their seats and watched, murmuring to one another, but still Elvie and Bays stood their ground. Nina's high heeled boots gave her away before she spoke, the little peg heels and stiff soles clacking against the marble. "Come, you two, enough. Let's get you cleaned up and carry on with our dinner, yes?" Elvie nodded and raised her hand to take Nina's elbow, but it was Bay's rough cotton sleeve, slick with sauce that fell into her hand. The corner of her mouth quirked up as he took the lead and led her to the grand stairwell with Nina clacking along behind them, chuckling under her breath and muttering bemusedly in Russian.

At the second floor landing he pulled her hand away and put it on Nina's arm. "I'm gonna go change," he muttered sulkily. "Nina's got a room key, she's gonna set you up with a bath and a change of clothes in one of the guest rooms. I'll be up to check on you in a bit."

Her hand dropped from Nina's silk sleeve. "Bays?" she called out quietly. His foot steps stopped. "You're the only one who's seen...I don't want..." The truth was too hard to utter, so instead she snapped, "I don't need help bathing myself!"

His boots brought him near again in long strides and he leaned in to speak quietly so only she could hear, his smile brushing against her ear. "She's Russian, they like gore and drama and depressing shit. Sides, you ain't got nothing on the horrors she hides in them fancy boots. Ballerinas got the creepiest feet you ever saw in ya life." He ran off down the hall laughing like a naughty school boy as Nina hissed a long string of violent sounding Russian curses at his back.

The bathroom in the quiet room on the next floor up that Nina took her to was so clean and white that she couldn't really differentiate any one thing from another. It was echoing and loud which only furthered Elvie's confusion. Nina left her, standing stock still in the middle of the small room and started the water flowing into the tub. "I will leave soap and a cloth on the edge of the tub. I will be gone only a few moments, I'm sure I have something you can wear in my closet."

Elvie nodded as she unclasped her mother's amethyst necklace, but then realized, she couldn't even see a place to put her things. Her words to Bays, all those brave words about learning to swallow her own pride came back to bite her when she actually had to act on them. "Nina...will you stay, just until I'm in please? Its...very white in here."

"Of course," Nina answered without judgement. True to Bays' prediction, Nina didn't so much as gasp at Elvie's scar laced back. Instead, she purred appreciatively and picked a stray noodle out of her friend's hair as Elvie settled into the warm water and covered herself by curling into a ball and wrapping her arms around her knees. "There, now I go find you some clothes while you wash up. Give me your hand." Elvie obeyed and Nina placed it on a round of soap sitting on a washcloth on the edge of the tub. "Soap is there when you are ready."

"Thank you," Elvie whispered as Nina closed the bathroom door. She didn't know that bathtubs came this big. She reached her legs out and found that she could almost straighten them. The water was deliciously warm and smelled like flowers, feminine and sweet. She sunk down low until the water came up to her shoulders, filling her senses.

A soft knock at the outside door and the carpet softened rapping of Nina's boots surprised her, she didn't know that Nina was still in the bedroom. "How is she?" Bays asked. He kept his voice low, but the strange acoustics of the tile crusted room must have helped carry it to her.

Nina remained silent for a few moments and Elvie wished she had someone to tell her what they were doing out there. "She is magnificent," Nina answered in a low dangerous hum, "and you are an idiot."

He sighed, "That's pretty much a given, Neen. Wanna tell me why?"

Elvie sat up slowly in the water so that it wouldn't slosh and warn them that she was listening. "That girl is a tiger who you are trying to see as a pussy cat. She earned every one of those stripes on her skin, badges of honor they are! And you! You try to take them away. She deserves every bit of respect you can find for her and none of your pity. She survived whatever did that to her. She survived as a child that kind of pain and still took care of others and you, doorak, are ready to carry her around in a basket and claim it's for her own good."

The bedsprings groaned loudly. "You ain't see her like I have." His voice was rough and ragged, it made her forehead pinch in pain. "That day, when her house got busted up, she was so...out of it! Making all sorts of crazy claims and then she just shut down! Wouldn't talk to no one, just sat on her stool and made lace! She wasn't strong then Nina! She was broken and sad and I would do fucking anything to keep her from looking like that again!" She could tell by the way he was talking that he was rubbing at his hair. It would be standing up in a ridiculous way by the time they were done. "I hate it! I hate seeing her like that and feeling so...so useless!"

The bedsprings creaked again as Nina sat next to him. "She's not allowed a breaking point? I said she was strong, not that she was infallible," Nina chided before she took a long pause that was even uncomfortable for Elvie in the next room. "But you don't matter right now. This is just about her. It makes you uncomfortable to see her sad. Too bad. She never can get past it if she avoids everything that makes her feel sad. You're not helping her!" Nina's voice broke and Elvie's chest heaved in a silent sob. She didn't know that the way she acted that day affected him so deeply, that he saw her like that in his mind every time something bad happened and would go to such lengths to stop it. And Nina, calling her a tiger and speaking so highly of her when they'd only met a few times...she wasn't sure if the beautiful ballerina was crazy or right, but she was thankful that someone didn't see her as a helpless kitten. Hearing Nina speak and tell her story bolstered her, but not enough to drown out the sorrow for Bays and how desperate he was to save her feelings while she fought against him, yelling at him to go against his very instincts and let her be hurt. "You do her a great disservice, my friend."

"Is that why she's so set on getting rid of me?" he asked quietly. "All she does is push me away and then kiss me and make me want her all the more. I love her, Neen. Why is she pushing me away?" Elvie's breath drew in sharply. He loved her. He said he loved her.

"Good! About time someone treated you to a dose of your own bullshit," Nina gritted. They both fell silent and Elvie sank below the surface of the sweet smelling bathwater to clear her head. He said he loved her and she'd known she was falling for him since the day that Adrienne called her out for it on the street. His love kept him coming back, and she had to stop talking about when he stopped coming round like it was a fact. He had no intentions of leaving. She sat back up sputtering for breath and swiped her wet hair out of her face just in time to hear Nina say, "You and I, Albert, we are the same. We hide the hurt in our hearts behind a mask. Me? Always the Ice Queen with a heart as cold as Siberia and twice as desolate. It was easier to be this way than to let the critics and the other ballerinas get to me. You? It's the ...how you boys say it? Smart ass? Questions and jokes and pushing people's buttons, all just to hid a heart that only wants to please."

"You ain't cold, Nina," he rumbled.

She chuckled quietly, "You saw past it. Maybe having the mask of your own made it easier for you." She paused for a moment. "But Elvie doesn't push back to save her heart. To her it is all facts and order. She is more like David than you might ever want to think about. She has to make plans for when you leave her, so that should it happen, she can keep pushing on. She has to work when things bother her, because sitting idle and moping will not solve the problem and she has to push back against you and try to make you fall in line, because she cares about keeping you."

"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

The smile returned to her low voice. "You do what you do best, Dorogoy. Push back. I tell you what my mama told me in a letter just before she died. She told me to stop freezing people out and testing them. To let the ones who want to stay with me, stay. So fight. Show her that you see her for everything she is, not what she is not. Mind those claws though, I imagine that if she wanted to, she could fight back quite fiercely."

The door clicked closed, leaving Elvie and Bays alone in the quiet guest room. Was she so like David? Did that mean she was a bore like Bays claimed David was? But he said he loved her and when David was at her house the night Doug ransacked it, the two of them seemed far more chummy than either would ever admit to. He stayed separated from her, neither one moving nor speaking, but the water was growing cold, and the others were waiting for them. "Bays?" she called. "Are you still there?"

The muffled brush of his shoulder hitting the slab door came long before his voice answered. "Yeah, Vie. I'm still here."

She hesitated, wondering if what she was thinking was a good idea. She knew she needed to reach out and make a big show, show him in his language that she felt just as strongly about him as he just admitted to feeling about her. "Can...can you come in here and make sure everything is out of my hair? I think I've made enough of a spectacle of myself tonight without going back out there wearing the special on my head."

He chuckled and turned the knob, but stopped himself before he could open the door. "You sure? It ain't exactly...proper."

"I'm sure," she answered and was surprised to find that she was. She was sure about this, maybe more sure than she'd been about anything in a long time. He shuffled nervously across the floor to her and even though she heard his every step echoing through the small room, she still gasped when his cold hand came to rest on her lower back. With gentle pressure he guided her hips forward so that he had room to scoop the cooling water over her head with his big hand. His fingers combed through her tresses and massaged soap into her scalp, drawing a long soft sigh from her lungs. His breath picked up as he dragged a soft cotton washcloth coated in the expensive soap Nina left for her up and down her back. Immediately she wanted to pull away from the tingling as her scars were touched, but she made herself stay still. She needed to let him do this and slowly, stroke by stroke, her tolerance of it was replaced by appreciation until she was leaning back into him. He cleaned her carefully, using the washcloth to wipe away all of the food and bad feelings from earlier in the evening and simple spongeing and running water over the places he felt like he shouldn't touch. She felt his hesitance and loved him all the more for how hard he was trying to maintain his composure.

His hand cupped her jaw and tilted her chin up towards him. "Lemme see this face, make sure you ain't go no more ink on ya nose." He just held it though, the washcloth never touched her and she held her breath in heady anticipation. His pinky and ring finger caressed up and down her throat and she leaned into it, her body filling with the incredible warmth that she'd gotten familiar with during the nights that he'd spent in her apartment, always just sleeping. "Bea-you-tee-ful," he enunciated in a soft whisper, rough and manly. She couldn't stop the moan that the roughness in his voice dislodged from the center of her being. Suddenly, his lips slammed into hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His mouth was forceful, desperate and insistent. He needed her and she needed him. "Tell me to leave," he suddenly grunted, his words settling in her mouth before pulling back as much as she would let him. "Tell me to buzz off, Vie. I can't stay in here...with you...like this."

"Shut up, Bays," she ordered and locked her lips back to his. "Don't go. Not unless you're taking me with you." He made a noise, somewhere between a groan and a growl, and stood pulling her out of the tub with him, her wet body soaking the front of his clothes as he carried her out to the bedroom and laid her on the soft comforter over the big bed. Goosebumps covered her skin and he laid over her to keep her warm, softly kissing her neck and shoulder while she worked at the buttons on his soggy shirt.

"Ya sure about this?" he asked in her ear, drawing the lobe into his mouth and scraping his teeth against it. She nodded and his defenses finally went down. His body melted over the top over hers, showing her exactly what that warmth inside of her was for.

Nina came back from her room carrying one of her more simple dresses from back when she was still with the ballet company. Elvie was so frail and slender that it would likely fit her even though it no longer fit Nina. She stopped outside the door, just before she knocked on it and listened to the noises from inside. A wide grin spread across her regal face and she pulled the room key from her pocket and turned the lock as quietly as possible, leaving the clothes and the key on the floor just inside the room without disturbing its occupants. It would take the apocalypse to disturb those two.

She smirked the whole way back down to the restaurant and sank happily into her seat next to David. His icy eyes questioned her. "Everything all right up there?"

"Perfect, darlingK," she purred, exaggerating the K at the end since he apparently loved it so much. "But I don't think they'll be back down tonight. They seemed very much busy with...other things."

All of the former newsboys groaned at the overshare of information about Skittery, but the ballerina just chuckled and mumbled under her breath about the prudish Americans before raising her glass to the union of her friends upstairs.

 _A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long again! These past few weeks have just been hellish while we tried to find a new place to live, but we have a house now. things will likely still be a bit...rocky for a bit while we move and all of that, but I'll try to keep a bit more consistent. Big wet sloppy kisses to Joker for messaging me while I was freaking out and making sure I was ok._


	15. Chapter 15

Skittery watched her sleep, his finger tracing softly over the lines on her skin, stopping when she shivered and starting again once she stilled and her breathing became slow and easy. She was so beautiful lying there with her hair glistening in the grey light just before dawn. A spike of dread that had slowly drilled deeper and deeper in to his stomach reached rock bottom as the light of morning breeched the windowsill while Nina's words pounded against the inside of his skull. He had to tell Elvie the truth but he didn't want to. There was too much of a chance that this would be the thing that pushed her too far, the thing that made her push him all the way out, never to let him in again. He couldn't let that happen. He needed her in his life. He needed her. She was perfectly capable of continuing on with just her siblings, but if she slammed the door in his face, what would he have? A bunch of friends he'd always held at arms length with his sarcasm and teasing and a brother who had a family full of newsboys and a beautiful redhead to keep him busy. Skittery hadn't seen his only family for more than a few minutes in the month he and Elvie had known each other. He'd have pretty damn close to nothing if this was Elvie's true breaking point.

She made him want more, more than coffee and garlic bread and people who were pleased with him for an hour while he served them. Much as he hated to admit it, he was enjoying having more responsibility. He was enjoying calling the shots and he was enjoying Davey looking at him calmly instead of nagging him all the time. He wanted a home, not just a hotel room and maybe a shop to sell his carvings in while she made her lace with Adrienne and Annabel. For the first time in his adult life, he saw a point in looking to his future instead of just scraping by and living each day as it came. He wanted to wake up every day with her soft, slender body pressed up to his and her sweet face on his arm. A gentle sigh left her lips, fanning across his skin and he responded with a much heavier one. He was relieved that soon his night of misery would be over. Once he told her, she would be nothing but herself: concise and clear. For better or worse, she would tell him where he stood as soon as the truth was out.

Her petite hand, long and slender, slid back and forth over his navel a few times, stirring that familiar fire deep inside of him, making him wish that he could forget it all and just repeat the previous evening instead. But he knew he couldn't. It had already been five days longer than he should have waited to tell her and he now knew that he loved her. She deserved the truth and he would tell her even if it ruined her feelings for him. As she stirred more and more, he brushed her hair over her shoulder and a slow sleepy smile spread across her face. "G'morning," she slurred as she stretched her thin limbs.

"Hey," he answered lowly, continuing to rake his fingers through her hair.

She sat up with her brow furrowed, "What's wrong?" The fear was plain on her face, fear that he was regretting what they did and he wanted to kick himself. She reached out and brushed her fingers against his face, but drew back when they hit the deep seated wrinkle between his brows. "Tell me the truth."

"Ok," he answered reluctantly, "but I want you to know that I ain't telling you because of...last night...Well, it is because of that...but not the way you's thinkin. It's not like I got what I wanted and now I'm tryin ta hurt ya or nothing...It's just that..."

A silly, lopsided smile graced her face as he rambled and her eyes that were normally soft as velvet twinkled just a bit with amusement as she shifted her body to sit back against the headboard. "Bays, you're doing that thing where you say thirty words when five would more than tell me what I need to know."

He groaned. She was so happy. "You was right about me and Jack keeping something from you last night." The smile started to slide, the twinkle faded and the seed of mistrust sprouted. This was it, the moment of truth. "It was 'cause Jack ain't got no tact and it was about Doug...but it wasn't what I said."

"Then what was it?" Her voice was a croak, thick and broken and her hands began that familiar clawing, fingernails scraping across the skin on the backs of her hands.

He put his hand over hers before she drew blood with her nails. She shuddered as his palm came down on hers. "It was about Carlos. He likes you just fine, but he didn't like that I was keeping a secret about him from you. The day Doug busted up your house, I didn't go to Carlos because we was friends. I ain't never said more than 'what'll it be' to him before that day. I went to him because of what you said about Tomás. Brown skin and blue eyes. That's Carlos."

"This isn't funny, Bays," she whimpered. "Not even a little. Don't joke about that."

He pulled his knees up and rested his elbows on them, covering his face. "Even I ain't that much of a shit, Vie. Carlos is Tomás. He remembers you. He's straightening Doug out because of you." Her eyes were wide and lost as she listened and her hands shook under his. "I know I shoulda told you right then, but I wasn't sure until I went to see him and I was more worried about you getting outta ya head and getting the apartment cleaned up sos you could move. And you was so jumpy...I didn't want to bring it back up until after you had time to...ya know...calm down. And then you said yesterday that you wanted the truth..."

"Stop talking," she whispered urgently, pushing his hand away and gripping the sheets in her fists.

"I didn't do it to hurt you, it's like you said, I was protectin you. Because...because I love you and I'd do anything to keep you from hurting. But...I love you and I had to do what you asked."

"Please," she said again, her voice still breaking but getting stronger, "I'm begging you. Stop. Take me to the washroom and leave me alone for a few minutes." He sighed and hung his head. He should have seen it coming, he should have prepared himself better. Stupidly, he thought that maybe, even though she didn't say it back, that she felt what he felt and that it would soften the blow for her. He knew the blow to his own heart would be bad, but he wasn't used to feeling so much. The pain of the rejection was almost too much to bear.

"Yeah, ok, Vie. Whatever you need." He shoved his body out of the warm sheets and into the cool, early morning air feeling defeated. His pants were rumpled and still a bit damp, but the smell of the soap from her bath water wafted up from them as he pulled them up. He was about to pull his shirt on but caught sight of her with her hands wrapped around herself and put it on her shoulders instead. She was vulnerable enough.

She closed her eyes and let out a tiny sniff of a laugh as she pulled her arms into it and wrapped the fronts around her body. "Thank you." Her legs were so long, disappearing under his shirt and he wished he'd taken more time to look at her before he got himself kicked out of her life. After three walks around the washroom to get acquainted with the obstacles, Elvie pulled away and held tightly to the sink. "Did Nina ever bring any clothes?" she asked quietly as he stepped out.

He looked around, noticing the neatly folded stack just inside the door for the first time and took it in to her, setting her hand on top of it. "While you clean up, I'm going to go get a dry shirt and see if I can't find something that will clean the grease off ya glasses. I'll be back."

"Bays," she called quietly, stopping him as hope rose up inside of him. This could be it, she might say it back. She turned, her cashmere eyes not knowing where to look, "Thank you. I just need a little quiet. To think." He nodded even though she couldn't see him and left the room, tucking the room key into his pocket.

In his room, he flopped down onto his narrow single bed, so different from the large, soft one he shared with Elvie the night before. Her scent still clung to his skin and if it never wore off it would be too soon. He breathed it in deeply, trying to memorize every note, but they all made his heart ache. He told someone he loved them for the first time, the first time he'd ever said those words to anyone besides his mother, and they weren't going to be returned to him. She didn't feel the same way, not anymore. His hand reached for the side table drawer and felt around until they closed around the small, wooden jewelry box that he'd finished carving for her only a few days before. The wood was smooth as silk under his fingers and the carvings were clear and precise. It was his best work, by far; detail his father would have been proud of. The coins and bills that he was saving were tucked inside, right where the ring they would pay for would go when there was enough. He rested it against his forehead and groaned, it was probably all for nothing now. He allowed himself a few more moments to wallow before getting himself up and changing. The housekeeper was in her closet and had something that cleaned Elvie's glasses to perfection and once they were tucked securely in his vest pocket, he went to the lobby to see if he could find where her cane got tucked away after they left.

"Skittery," David called from the front desk. The boss was up early, as usual. He pushed his dark hair back from his face and slumped over, shoving his hands in his pockets. A smug smirk lifted David's normally firm mouth as he handed Elvie's cane over from behind the desk. "You know, I gave Nina that room key so that Elvie could get cleaned up...not so you two could have a lover's retreat on the hotel's dime."

Even though Skittery could hear Davey trying to joke in his own way, he couldn't muster up the wit to reply with anything but the bitterness he was feeling. "Don't worry about it, Boss. I'll clean the room and you can take the fare out of my wages."

David drew back with his eyebrows raised, the smirk disappearing. "That's not what I meant..."

Skits scrubbed his face with the flat of his hand. "I know, I'm sorry, Dave. It's just been a rough morning."

"You finally told her about Carlos?"

He looked up. "Jesus, does everyone know?"

Davey smiled, "You took Race with you; bookies in Brooklyn and the shoe shine boy on Fifth know. Everyone at the hotel knows." Skittery grumbled under his breath, cursing Racetrack's big mouth until Davey looked around and asked, "Where is she?"

"She's upstairs. Told me to buzz off and leave her alone for a bit. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm pretty sure we're done for." They both sat with that in uncomfortable silence for a bit before Skittery heaved a heavy sigh, "I better get back up there before she thinks I not only lied to her but ditched her in a hotel room."

But Davey was no longer looking at him. His icy blue eyes were focused over Skittery's shoulder at the opening doors of the elevator. "Ummmmm..." the normally confident hotelier stammered, "I don't think that's necessary." Skittery turned around to follow his friend's gaze and felt his own deep chocolate brown eyes widen. Elvie stepped off the elevator in Nina's simple mauve silk and she had never looked more beautiful. Her chin was high and her hair was parted where the chained tassel of the whip split her scalp all those years ago. She was showing the scars off, wearing them like the badge of honor that Nina said they were. The sixteen year old elevator operator met his eyes, looking like a man headed for a firing squad as he led her out. Anger, jealousy and fear swelled inside of him and he rushed forward, shoving the poor kid aside and scaring him hack into the safety of his elevator.

She reached for and found his elbow without a word and he clapped his hand over the top of hers with more force than he really meant to use. "I told you I'd come get you," he snapped. "What are you doing wandering around on your own?" He looked down at her, mad at her for not talking to him, for not saying she loved him and for risking her own neck. The staircases were grand and steep, one missed handrail and she could have gone down head over heels.

She raised her chin to face him, but didn't even bother to raise her eyes to his. "Stop it, Bays," she ordered quietly. "Do you have my glasses?" She held out her hand expectantly with no trace of a tremble or fidget and he dug the spectacles out of his pocket. As she tugged them on and wavered on her feet when her world jolted into some semblance of focus, she cleared her throat. "I need you to take me to see Mr. Fuentes, please." She turned those soft eyes up, but still wouldn't meet his.

He pulled his watch out of his vest pocket. "Elvie, for Peet's sake, its just now six o'clock. You can't go pay a visit now."

"If you won't take me, I'm sure Nina will give me the address."

He groaned, "I didn't say I wouldn't take you, I was just thinking we should get a cup of coffee and something to eat before we go wake Carlos up. Just wait a bit."

Finally, her eyes locked with his and she stared deeply at him, her voice tightening. "I think I've waited long enough, don't you?" He couldn't argue with that and did as she asked.

All too soon they were knocking on the imposing Spaniard's door. The heavy footsteps and loud curses in Spanish made every muscle in Skittery draw inward, yet she stood still, listening intently to the voice of the man that haunted her nightmares. Locks, four or five of them unlatched one after the other from the top of the door to the bottom before the heavy slab flew open and a bleary eyed Carlos stood in front of them growling, "Someone better be dead." His tune changed quickly when his eyes dropped to Elvie. "Oh, its you. You'd better come in then." He stepped aside and Skittery half expected Elvie to plow in like Beth would, but she waited. Her grip on his arm was almost painfully tight. Both men watched her expectantly, waiting for her to make the first move, but she was frozen in place.

Carlos raised a brow at Skittery who put his hand over the one that was attempting to bury itself in the flesh of his arm. "Vie, you ok?" She stepped in closer to him and handed her cane up to him silently. He and Carlos watched as she reached out with her now free hand and took Carlos', pulling it close to her face to inspect it. "Elvie?"

"Your hands are the same," she finally whispered out, sounding like her throat wouldn't open enough to release more sound. She dropped his hand and pulled herself even closer into Skittery's side, her scarred cheek pressing into his arm. "I don't want to go in there."

Annoyed with her as he was, as hurt and as raw, he still melted at the sound of her trembling voice. "Its just an apartment, Vie. Nothing to worry about. I'm here with you. You don't want to do...whatever we came here for out in the hallway, do ya?"

She shook her head as Sophie stepped into view inside the apartment. Her pink dressing gown covered her nightgown as she waddled towards them, her arms supporting her large belly. "Carlos? Who's there?" she asked, coming up next to him. "Skittery? Evie? Is everything all right?"

"Elvie," Skittery snapped, earning him a glare from Carlos who turned to his wife.

"Querida, it's early. Go back to bed while I take care of this, please. It's work." Sophie smiled and kissed his cheek and was about to do as he asked when she looked to the two people at her door. Both were stiff with shock from Carlos words.

"I suppose that's all it was to you," Elvie said, pulling away to stand on her own. "Just work. It wasn't just work to me, Tomas."

Skittery placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as Sophie's nose scrunched in confusion. "Why are you calling him that? Carlos? How does she know one of your undercover names?"

Carlos glowered at Skittery as he growled, "Sophie, Amor, please. Go back to bed and rest. You shouldn't get so worked up. The baby..."

"The baby will be fine, neither one of us is made of glass. What is she talking about?" Sophie was normally about as intimidating as a friendly dog, so to hear her voice get so hard was new for Skittery.

The Spaniard sighed and held the door open wider, "This isn't hallway talk." He turned a knifepoint glare on Skittery, "It isn't talk to bring to my home either, but since it's already too late..."

Elvie stepped up to him, her normally soft blue eyes cold. "He only did what I asked of him. You are not the victim here." The tall, lanky man drew back at that and all of his resolve to be gruff melted away.

"You're right, Chiquita. Los siento." He reached out to take her arm but Skittery flinched, wanting to pull her back, but restraining himself. She reacted to his slight movement, though and stepped back before Carlos reached her.

"Ask," Skittery growled. "You don't touch her without permission."

"You didn't ask," Carlos retorted, seemingly unable to step back from his defiance entirely.

Elvie reached her hand up and rested it on top of Skittery's, filling him with the warmth that he wasn't sure would ever come back after her harsh treatment that morning. "He doesn't have to. He would never hurt me."

Sophie stepped up, "You're safe while you're in our home, Elvie. I'll make us all some coffee while you three sort this out." Again, Carlos seemed ready to argue, but Sophie stopped him with a fierce glare. "Don't you start! More harm will come from me sitting on my duff all day long than will from making a damn pot of coffee." She stomped off to their small kitchen leaving Carlos staring after her in bewilderment, mumbling under his breath in Spanish. He held the door open and Elvie stepped forward, pulling Skittery in front of her. She dragged her hand up to his shoulder like she did the day the house was broken into, so she was more behind him than beside him and let him take her in. Her trust in him was so strong, strong enough to let him feel a glimmer of hope. Once they were all seated with a warm cup of coffee in their hands, the room became uncomfortably silent. "Someone tell me what is going on, please," Sophie said quietly, tucking her hand into Carlos'.

Elvie's brow wrinkled in confusion. "She doesn't know?"

"She knows who I was then and what I had to do to survive once I was on my own. I have not burdened her with every story, every life. Your's, Elvie, is one that I don't take lightly and therefore had not shared with anyone but my mentor." He pulled away from his wife and stood up, pacing the room as he spoke and shoving back a stubborn piece of hair that seemed to want to take up permanent residence on his brow. The blonde watched her husband, her green eyes already wavering with tears. "Hollister and Perkins, they were bookies...loan sharks. They came to me and told me to get you or the older boy and I watched you for a few days, your father owed them money...a lot of money, and they said they were just going to use you to persuade him to pay up. Maybe it was naive of me, but I figured they'd just scare you, hold a gun to your head and then let you go when he paid. So, I followed you and walked you home. It was a job, but at the same time, it was nice to just act like a normal kid for once, taking a girl for a soda and a walk. I missed that." He turned his blue eyes to Sophie, looking at her pleadingly. "You know that I was often the bad guy, Amor. Those were some of my darkest times, before I knew my own limits. When I was so hungry and cold that I would do just about anything anyone paid me to do. They paid me to walk a little girl, twelve years old to a certain building at a certain time, and I did it. We were almost late because I didn't want to do it, I waited until the last possible moment, trying to decide whether or not I could go through with it, but buying the soda took my last pennies. If I wanted to eat again that week, I had to do it. They dosed her with ether and shackled her and then paid me and told me to leave unless I wanted to join her."

Sophie swallowed loudly while Elvie took a leisurely sip of her black coffee. "And that was you, Elvie? You were the girl?" She turned her wide, doll like eyes to her husband, "That's why you wouldn't talk to her last night? Why you were so rude? Because you didn't want her to recognize you?"

"Cabron here," Carlos gritted, waving a hand towards Skittery, "hadn't told her the truth yet, that he knew the kid who led her into the wolves den, and I didn't want her to find out that way. I've been telling him to tell her all week." He looked pleadingly into her eyes, "I didn't want you to find out this way either, Querida."

"That's what happened to your face?" Sophie whispered, dragging her eyes back to stare at Elvie.

Elvie sat looking serene and calm, like her world made sense for the first time. "My face, my hair, my neck...my whole body. I don't remember leaving that building and I was delirious and out of my mind from the pain for a long time afterwards. I probably shouldn't have lived. I probably should have just died, but I guess I'm just too damn stubborn for that." Skittery felt the grin of pride spreading across his face, but the statement broke the dam on Sophie's tears. She heaved her body up off of the sofa and hustled back into the bedroom, slamming the door.

Carlos stared after her for a moment, but let her have her time, turning his attention back to Elvie. "You can stay as long as you like, Chiquita and ask me anything you want. I will tell you the truth. If your friend here needs to get to work, I will make sure you get home safely."

A strange smile lifted the corner of her mouth while her eyes turned hard as marble. "I'm big enough, grown enough to sit in this room with you and hear the truth from you, but that doesn't mean that I forgive you or trust you to do what you say you will, Mr. Fuentes. You will never take me anywhere. Ever."

The Spaniard looked at her bewildered, "Then why did you ask him to bring you?"

That same strange smile stayed on her face, giving Skittery chills down his spine. He'd never seen her look anything but scared or stone faced, but she looked proud and strong. "You have been my greatest fear all these years. The other men, the bookies, I knew they were bad from the moment I entered that building. But you..." she paused and her eyes took on the distant empty look they had when she didn't have her glasses on, "...you made me feel like a princess. You noticed me. You talked to me when no one else did and you made me feel special and you used it against me. You made it so that I was afraid of everyone who was kind to me. It took a man who pushed my buttons, and annoyed me to no end and refused to go away to start seeing people who weren't younger than me again. You have no power over me anymore." She turned her eyes to Skittery and the gentleness returned to her soft blue eyes, a real smile on her lips. "Take me home, Bays."

On the trolley, he looked down at her, resting against his chest. "Vie?"

"Not now," she murmured. "I don't want to talk about it. I'm not happy that you kept it from me, but you did tell me. Don't do it again."

He wrapped both arms around her and buried his nose in her hair. "I won't. Straight and narrow from now on." He meant it, he would do anything to keep her trust in him as strong as his was in her.

 _A/N: Look at that, less than a week since my last post! Ok ok, only by a day, but considering how long it was between the last two we'll celebrate any little victories! Thank you to Joker, Bexlynne and my guest reviewer for your support!_


	16. Chapter 16

Elvie and Beth walked arm in arm alone through The Bronx Botanical Garden on a hot June day, making lazy circles along the gravel paths behind the grand greenhouse and museum. Somewhere along the path, Beth seemed to know exactly where though Elvie couldn't quite keep track, Brendon lay sprawled out on a picnic blanket with baby Seamus under the shade of a large live oak tree. They stopped now and again to smell or touch things along the way and Elvie described what she could see when they did, but mostly they strolled and Beth tried to pry the details of the night spent at the Ben out of a very uncomfortable and blushing Elvie. Elvie was managing to dodge but between Beth's persistence and the things nagging at the back of her mind, she was quickly losing ground. "Come on!" the raven haired beauty whined. "You have to give me more than 'it was very nice.' 'Very nice' is for a vase of flowers or a new knife. You do not describe your sex life as 'very nice.'"

"I don't have to give you anything!" Elvie retorted haughtily, but smirked. They were on their third round through the grounds and she'd managed to fend off Beth's questions so far, but all the thinking about it had her mind turning to a warm, happy mush. Bethany Bailey whining like a spoiled child on top of the happy stupor she was already in rendered her a bit giddy and full of sass. "It's rude to kiss and tell."

Beth huffed beside her, "Rude, schmude ya damn prude," Beth huffed and Elvie struggled to keep her voice dry and deadpanned.

"You rhyme now? My my, maybe I should keep my secret a little longer to see if you'll break into song like in a vaudeville show."

Beth grumbled menacingly under her breath but Elvie's giggles got the better of her. "Tell me!" she squealed.

"What is it you're so eager to know?" Elvie asked, yanking Beth to the side and burying her nose in a heavily fragrant gardenia bush. "You have a child! You've done it! You know how it works."

Beth swatted the heady blossoms away, trying to remove the scent from her nose. "That's just mechanics, there's way more to it than that. I want the juicy details! How he held you, where he touched you, what did he use? Was he all conventional about it, just using what God gave him to plug and chug and get it over with? Or did he use his hands? Or his mouth? Mmmmmm, I just can't imagine Bays as the 'color inside the lines' type. I bet he's a wild card in the sack."

Elvie was dragging the tip of her finger across the velvety petals of a gardenia blossom, but pulled away in shock. "Exactly how much time have you dedicated to thinking about what Bays is like in bed?"

Beth grinned and chuckled wickedly, "Sweets, I think about what everyone is like in bed. Even prudes like you. Keeps things exciting."

Elvie raised an eyebrow, having never heard anyone talk in such a way before. She was realizing quickly that even though she was the adult in her house, she was very much still a child sometimes in what she knew about the world outside her apartment. She let out a quivering sigh at the thought of Bays strong, soft hands roaming over her, his mouth touching where she least expected it, his tongue laving across her skin like a knife. "I thought that night was plenty exciting," she whimpered, feeling like every nerve in her body was tingling.

Beth sniggered, "It's all exciting in the beginning, but I have some pretty...extravagant tastes."

Even though her common sense was screaming in her head to keep quiet, her curiosity got the better of her. "Like what?" True to form and reputation, Beth launched into a long and detailed oration of her likes when it came to pleasure. The levels of hedonism and depravity made Elvie feel like the blood would never sink back down out of her cheeks and flow through the rest of her body. She died a little inside at the thought of having to look Brendon in the eye again, now knowing the types of things he did to Beth and the things he supposedly enjoyed her doing to him. For an entire fourth loop around the gardens, Beth spoke at length about things that Elvie had not known were possible, never mind enjoyable.

"I can hear you over there looking scandalized," Beth finally said when Elvie had been silent for a long while.

"People on the other side of the garden are being offended by the stench of your smugness," she retorted saltily. "Must you be so...descriptive?"

"I must," Beth sighed, her cheeks pink and her milky eyes glazed over with lust. "I ain't had no one to talk to about it before, so sue me if I get a little over excited."

Flattered, though she was, to be the gang leader's first real confidant, she was, as Beth predicted, thoroughly scandalized. "You still don't have anyone willing to hear you talk about it! I always heard that gangs had brothels at their disposal, can't you tell one of those women about your...escapades and leave me my dignity?"

"That's insulting, lumping my men into that stereotype!" Beth snapped. "I run a classy operation and we don't keep no whores! What do you think this is? Brooklyn?"

Elvie burst into a loud fit of giggles at Beth's indignation despite the fact that the reference to Brooklyn's taste in women was completely lost on her. "I didn't know I was your only female company." Beth chuckled naughtily, pulling an exasperated groan from her friend. "I don't even want to know."

"Then tell me a nice little story about you and Bays in a hotel room to shut me up."

Elvie sighed, "He...he bathed me. He washed me and my hair and I thought the water would boil. My skin felt like it was on fire, Beth. And then he was kissing me and it came out of no where! One minute he was washing me and the next his lips were on mine with no warning! And he was begging me to make him leave, telling me that I needed to tell him to leave but I told him he couldn't unless he took me with him."

"Ohhhhhhh," Beth sighed, "I love it when they beg." Her hand tightened on Elvie's forearm and Elvie squirmed in discomfort. "Then what? Don't skimp on the details!"

"He carried me out of the bath without even drying off. His clothes were soaked with bathwater."

"Suuuuure it was just bathwater," she purred. Elvie didn't even understand some of the meaning hidden in Beth's quips, so she just kept going. She'd learned her lesson, she didn't want an explanation.

"I thought you were going to shut up if I told you!"

Beth stopped and cocked her head to the side, her dark curls blowing in the hot breeze, and curled her pretty pink mouth into a saucy smirk. "It's adorable when you get mouthy."

After their previous conversation though, Elvie had no idea how to take that. "Ugh," she groaned. "Please stop or you won't get another word out of me!" She turned to look at her sniggering friend, "Besides, you're too short to be my type."

Beth gave her a pinch on the meager, but still soft flesh at the indent of her waist, "Oh, but the things I could..."

"NO!" Elvie yelped. "Just stop. You are just going to have to face the fact that you are missing something that is very important to me." She looked sidelong at Beth's smirking face, "Large and important." A loud cackle from Beth sent a flock of starlings flying, startling some high society folks strolling the paths. The girls kept walking, whispering and giggling while Beth made sure to trip as many of their fellow garden goers as she could with her cane and Elvie apologized to all of them.

As they came around by the live oak again, Brendon called out, "The wee one is asking for you, Love." Beth tugged Elvie over and held her hand out to her husband. He happily took it and gently pulled her to a good place to sit. "You next Elvie," he murmured quietly and she wondered if he spoke more gently for her sake or if she was just always trying to pretend he didn't exist before and hadn't noticed how he spoke.

She shifted from foot to foot, knowing that if she reached her hand out, his would be there. As fun as it was being thoroughly embarrassed by Beth, there was so much more that happened that night that she needed to figure out and for the first time, neither Bays nor Beth were the right person to help her. She needed someone who wouldn't tease her, who understood what both she and Bays were going through, and Brendon was the best person to be that sounding board. She just had to be brave enough to walk with him. "Bren, will you walk with me? I need to ask you something."

They were both silent for a long while before Beth spoke up. "Anything you want to ask him, you can ask in front of me, Elvie. You don't have to go off alone. For Christ's sake, you couldn't even sit in a carriage with him last week."

"I need to walk. I can't sit and ask this," she answered. "You trust him. That has to be good enough for me. I can't be afraid forever." The mountainous man stood up in front of her and moved to her left without a single word to her and once his elbow was in her hand they slowly made their way back to the gravel path.

They hardly gone a few yards when he rumbled, "What did you want to ask me?'

But she wasn't ready for that. Her heart was still pounding at being alone with him. She knew she had to stop being afraid, that she had nothing to worry about and was safe with him. Her head knew it, but still her heart clamored on. "I met your sister," she murmured and focused on his face, letting him lead and watching his expressions as they moved instead of looking around her and worrying about what was to come.

"Aye, she said as much. She's trouble." He grinned and winked at her and she gave a tentative smile back.

"Says the man who married the gang boss."

He laughed aloud at that and she felt some of the tension in her melt away. "I'll grant you that. I suppose we're hellions the lot of us, we Finnegans." Her steps stuttered as she realized he meant Beth as well and a scowl drug across his face. "Beth Finnegan included."

She smiled, "If you say all Finnegans are hellions, then Beth is one hundred percent Finnegan." He smiled proudly and patted the hand that rested on his elbow, giving her the courage to ask what she really wanted. "Do you keep secrets from Beth?"

"I'm still breathing, I think that's answer enough."

"Yes, but that just means she doesn't know." Bays' secrets and lies were still on her mind over a week later. When he was around, she never mentioned it, but when she was alone, all her minds eye could see was that silent conversation with Jack. "It's easy to slip something by a woman who can't see your face."

His lips pressed tightly together and his hazel eyes flicked nervously back and forth between her face and the path ahead of them. "This is about Carlos."

She swallowed back a gasp. It was bad enough that the secret was there, and it was only made worse with each new person she found out who knew before her. "Did everyone know? Everyone but me?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I knew because I went with him. The others knew because Racetrack knew."

"You knew he was keeping it from me?"

He nodded. "Aye. It wasn't a decision he took lightly, but he and Beth agreed that you weren't ready to hear it." Her confusion spread across her face. To her, that afternoon seemed short and long all at once and she realized she had no real idea of how long Beth, or Bays, or anyone was there with her. He chewed over his words for a moment before uneasily speaking. "You...you were in and out for a long time. Sometimes, you'd surprise us and speak like you'd been listening the whole time, but then other times, we'd ask you something, speak to you and you acted like we weren't even there. Nothing we said to you or did pulled you back out." She looked down at his hand that still sat on top of hers, her other hand tightening around her cane, feeling the texture of the carvings press into her palm.

"My entire life, defined by a few horrible moments of one single day," she murmured. She'd fought so long to not have her life be defined by her sight, even if it meant cloistering herself away, to hear that her friends only saw that one piece of her hurt. "All anyone sees when they look at me is that weak girl, falling apart at the seams."

"No one thinks you weak, Elvie."

She couldn't help but to sassily retort, "You speak for everyone now?"

He raised a dark brow at her as a sly smirk tipped the corner of his mouth, "Bays is rubbing off on you." She smiled at that, bashfully and he returned it, his hazel eyes gleaming kindly. "I don't find you weak. Beth hates weakness and wouldn't hang around you if she thought you weak. And Bays? He's scared shitless of you. Weakness don't inspire fear, only great strength does." He was wrong though. Weak people should always be feared, because the only thing that was predictable about weak people was that they would always take the cowards way out.

"He's not afraid of me, Bren. He's afraid of seeing me upset and feeling helpless about it. He said as much to Nina."

He stayed quiet a long while and stopped under the fuschia boughs of a Rhododendron. She looked up and smiled at the filmy, deep pink curtain that surrounded them. The colors were so much more beautiful than she ever could have imagined from the dreary grey walls inside her apartment. Her companion squirmed and fidgeted as he debated with himself on whether of not to tell her what he knew. "You know he came to Keenan's the day after he met you?"

"Yes, to ask Beth to help me."

He chuckled, "Is that what he told you?"

She had to think, it never really occurred to her that he'd gone for any other reason than he knew Beth had knowledge that he didn't that could help her. "I guess I never asked him and he never said."

"He said he had to know what to do, how to walk with you, how to act so that he didn't ruin his chances with you while feeling it out. I don't pretend to know your Bays well, but a man who is so afraid to ruin something that hasn't happened yet, that my Bethany seems less intimidating than finding his own way? That's terrified. The good kind of terrified that makes men better than they were."

Elvie scoffed. "I'm not familiar with 'good fear,'" she answered coldly. "Fear and I are very well acquainted but its never shown itself to be anything but destructive."

"Oh fear comes in all sorts of forms, but the good kind challenges you, pushes you to either be great or stay they same." A jolt of pure, sickening fear went straight to her gut. All of her rules, her routines, they made her feel safe. Changing from those ways would leave her and her family vulnerable to her father, her brother and all of the cruelty that the universe seemed determined to dole out to them on the regular. She'd already changed more in the past month than she had in the eight years before, maybe not for Bays, but because of him. She wasn't sure how many more changes she could afford to make. Brendon stood up from his rest against the tree trunk. "Haven't you noticed how much he's changed?"

She shook her head and looked back up through the pink curtain at the pinpoints of sunlight streaming down. "Aside from starting to lie to me when he promised me that he understood the importance of the truth to me, no."

Brendon sighed heavily. "You were brave enough to take a walk alone with me when you've been afraid of me since the moment we first met. Are you not brave enough to really look at him?"

"He makes my head spin," she murmured. "I'm never sure if he pities me or loves me, despite what he says. I don't know whether I...care for him or if I'm just grateful that someone saw me and decided to help. But then...when I'm with him...I know that I love him so much that I all I want to do is run to my bedroom and hide under my bed like a child during a thunderstorm. I want to darken the windows and lock the door so he'll think I'm gone."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why would loving him make you want to run away from him?"

"Because love makes you blind. It makes it so you can't see people for what they really are. I'm already at a disadvantage; I can't afford anything making my view any more blurry." He hmphed and she smiled sadly at the sound. He couldn't understand. He'd loved Beth from the first moment he laid eyes on her when they were sixteen. He'd been in love so long that he couldn't remember the time before it. "My mother loved my father more than life itself. She loved him so hard and steadfast that she was willing to let him steal and bet away her hard earned money. She sat up every night, staring into the fire in the hearth while she waited up for a man who was never meant to be a family man to come home and take his place at her side. I will never be a firewatcher. I never want to wake up one day and find that I've wasted my life waiting for a man to become something that he's not."

"The heart wants what it wants and it doesn't care what the head has to say about it. What is it that you think he should be that he isn't?" She didn't have an answer for him. She loved Bays' playful, annoying teasing manner. She loved how easily he slipped from that to being dour and dark. His antics matched her serious, work driven ways perfectly, balancing them, yet she couldn't give in to what her heart wanted. What did she want from him? There was nothing she asked of him that he didn't do and still she hesitated. "This is one of those good fears, Elvie," Brendon said quietly, interrupting her thoughts. "It's a scary thing to put one's heart in the hands of another, especially in the beginning. You have to have faith that he'll tend it and care for it."

"What if he breaks it?" she whispered.

"I don't rightly have an answer for you, I suppose you'll just have to trust him and pick the pieces up should the time come. You can't always think things through, sometimes you just have to let go and feel what you feel." She didn't like that answer. She wanted facts. She wanted a plan for if things went south. "Do you feel any better just getting that off your chest?"

"I feel scared," she answered.

"Aye, I don't doubt it. Let it push you, you'll be the better for it." He led her back towards the path and she let him. She was still confused and troubled and hesitant, but Brendon said that she just had to feel what she felt and let it push her to be better.

"I guess I feel how I'm supposed to feel then. We better get back before Beth thinks we ran off without her. I don't want to see her mad, being that her happy is so charming."

He chuckled and agreed, "It was nice finally getting to know you first hand instead of by way of Beth. I hope I can be more than 'that man' to you from now on."

She flushed deeply, "Nice to meet you too."

 _A/N: Beth is so much fun to write. Thank you to Joker and Bexlynne and my anonymous guest reviewer for always reviewing and keeping me with going. E dropped a bit of a headcannon on me today, on the same day that my partner started a weeklong vacation to get our move on the way. The next week is going to be an exercise in my brain not exploding! I need to write and get this stuff outta my head and I need to pack my crap! Ack! Adulting sucks!_


	17. Chapter 17

He happened on the ring while looking for tools in a secondhand shop. He was just taking the few chisels and the planer he found up to the shopkeeper to barter a price on them when the delicate diamond chips winked at him, grabbing his attention out of the back of the glass case. It had been a month since that horrible but wonderful night at the Benjamin, the first of many nights like it at Elvie's apartment...minus the fancy accommodations and need to clean creamed spinach out of her hair. He was more in love with her, but more frustrated with her every day. He loved her. He told her every time he saw her and she never said it back. The words made her smile even as her brow furrowed, as if they made her happy but hurt her at the same time.

He was learning though, learning when and how much to push her back when she tried to push him away. Some days he could guide her through her little rebellions and they could settle happily together at the end of the day, but others, the best thing he could do was go back to the Benjamin and give her a little space. It was a hard lesson to learn, since he was so used to pushing people to their breaking point. Learning that restraint, and to watch her and learn her reactions so that he could see when he was hedging too far was trying and some days he went straight to the bar when he got back. Slowly but surely, though, he was learning to be an "us" with her, though sometimes he wasn't sure that she was learning the same lesson he was…or if she was even reading out of the same book. He'd never met anyone with such hard stops to their tolerance or who could counter his attempts to figure them out with such stealth and grace, but the enigma of her was part of what kept him coming back when one of her siblings inevitably showed up at the back door of the kitchen or in the rudimentary workshop David allowed him to set up in the basement after the housekeepers complained about all the wood shavings and sawdust in his room. She always sent for him after she sent him away, never let either of their frustrations sit too long and fester, and he'd always go back to the Lower East and take her to their bench and tell her stories about the stars she couldn't see while she smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder with her slender fingers wound around his suspender strap.

That little ritual, forged the first night they met is what made the ring jump out at him. Despite it's delicate size, it might as well have have flashbulbs going off all around it for how it caught his attention. A small pearl was nestled on the center of an eight pointed star. Next to it a golden crescent moon gleamed with three tiny diamond chips at it's center. If there ever was a more perfect ring, he hadn't seen it. After some bargaining and bartering, he and the shopkeeper came to an agreement and he walked out the door with a ring in his pocket. He took his new tools back to the hotel and carefully placed them on the bench he made himself before picking up a rag coated in oil and smoothing it over his newest creation. The wood drew the oil in and he rubbed it to a gentle sheen until a knock at the top of the stairs pulled his attention away from it. He grinned up to where Joey stood. "Hey Kiddo!" He stood to the side and jerked his thumb at the chair he'd been working on. "What d'ya think?"

Joey slowly descended the stairs as if something might jump out and bite him at any moment and circled the handsome rocking chair a few times, looking between the intricate carvings and Skittery. "Looks like Elvie's lace, those dumb berries she puts on everything."

Skits paused and gave the kid a hard look. "They mean something to her and they meant something to your ma."

The kid scowled and shrugged his narrow shoulders. "I wouldn't know, I don't remember her. Elvie's the closest I've got and she don't even like raspberries. She says the seeds feel like bugs stuck in her teeth."

Skits ran his tongue over his teeth, unable to stop thinking about the hard shells of bugs in them for a moment before laughing loudly. "Well, there's a feeling I'll never get outta my head… but do you think she'll like the rocker?"

Joe shrugged again, shoving his finger into the groove surrounding a hummingbird. "She never sits unless it's in her stool. She don't like the other chairs in the house, they was Mama and Papa's." He made a circle around it, though, looking at all of the carvings, brushing his fingers across the smooth spindles across the back and trying to hold back a guarded smile.

"Yeah, that's why I made it. That dumb stool is for a kid your size! Vie ain't no heavy weight champ, but she's gonna end up a humpbacked old lady if she keeps sitting in that tiny thing." The older man hmphed and rearranged the tools on his bench. "Why does she keep the chairs if ya ma is dead and she wont let ya pop back in the house?"

Joey sat down, testing the chair's rockers like only a ten year old boy can, nearly catapulting himself out, putting emphasis at strange places and he threw his weight forward to keep himself rocking. " **Mama's** she says she keeps **because** it reminds her. I **dunno** why she keeps Pop's. **She** hates him." He stopped rocking suddenly and Skittery turned to look over his shoulder. Joe's narrow shoulders were heaving and his face red. "I hate him too. He's a dirty, rotten, no good…"

Skits put his hand on one of those bony shoulders and squeezed gently. "Easy," he soothed. Without removing his hand he moved around the chair and crouched in front of it, resting his elbows on his splayed knees. "Your Pop is slimy as a sewer rat, ain't no two ways about it, but you know that about him. You know not to trust him and you know you got people on your side who you can trust. I know it don't feel like it, but its better this way."

"Better than what?" Joe asked lowly, picking at a threadbare spot on his pants.

Skits ran his hand through his hair, tugging at it. He'd already said more than he wanted. He didn't like remembering that side of his family. He liked only remembering his mother and her star stories, his two sisters pooling their money with his for raspberry jam and his father teaching him about carving and building. A hefty sigh escaped his lips and he ducked his head low. "Better than never knowing which Pop is coming home. The one who likes to sit with you for hours, talking ya through whittling and carving or joining a dovetailed drawer, or the guy who comes in and ransacks the place, throws ya Ma around, and tells you what an ungrateful brat you are when you stick up for her. Its bettah to know that he's a sack of shit than to always be wondering. You know who's on ya side, Kid." He looked up with a weak attempt at a smile, but Joey just stared at him wide eyed. Skits narrowed his eyes. "None'a that. I don't need no one feeling bad for me. It's over, they's gone. I got the best of them in Andy, in here," he tapped his temple and pointed at the chair, "and right there where you's sitting."

"There ain't no good in my pop," the kid snapped. "He's a no count cheat! He's the reason Elvie is the way she is and he'd steal his own kids into the poor house without a second thought!"

"Ya right," Skittery admitted. "There ain't no good in him, you's the good he had."

Joey raised an eyebrow and regarded him seriously. "You don't lie to me because I'm a kid. You never tell me everything is gonna be ok in the end, happily ever after stuff like everyone else does."

Skittery shrugged and stood up, dusting off his pants. "I don't tell it that way 'cause I don't see it that way. What's gonna happen is gonna happen happens and you just learn to roll with it."

"Is that why you're so annoying? Because you want to figure it all out so you can roll with it?"

He laughed loudly and tipped his companion out of the rocking chair. "I think you mean delightfully curious…charming even. But yeah, I guess so." Joe stood up scowling and brushed himself off, but looked back to hear the rest of what Skits had to say. "You either gotta roll with the lumps that get thrown at you or you end up grouchy and beaten. I been there and it ain't great. I always had Andy to look out for, so I got used to trying to roll with it…but to tell the truth, I ain't so great at it neither. So, I like to know what's coming, what the worst that could happen is." He lifted the chair up and jerked his head towards the door. "Go hold that door open and we'll take it to Elvie after we go see Doug…unless I'm too _annoying_ to catch a ride with."

A rare smile crossed Joey's face. "I guess I'd rather catch a ride than walk…"

"Wise-ass," Skits muttered, slapping the brim of Joey's cap down. The kid ran up the stair chuckling while he hoisted the solid piece of furniture up and carried it out the wagon he had waiting.

Carlos leaned casually against the building when they pulled up and silently led them down to the basement of his building where Doug had been living. The cot that the teen got his few meager hours of sleep was to one side, while the boy himself sat at the tiny table and chair, absently pushing food into his mouth on the other side of the small dark room. "You got visitors, Kid."

He looked up wearily and his powdery blue eyes, so much like Elvie's locked on Joey. "Hey Joe, what are you doing here?" Worry furrowed his brow, "Everything ok at home? Is Elvie all right?" Skittery had to bite his tongue to keep from replying sarcastically. The last time Elvie was not all right it was his fault, why should he care if she was all right now?

Joey scuffed his feet nervously against the step, freezing in place and mumbled, "Just wanted to see you." Skittery set his hand on the kid's shoulder, feeling him relax a bit. "You comin' home soon?"

Doug looked back down at his empty plate hungrily and pushed his glasses up his nose. "You know I'm not. Not after what I did to Elvie." He looked up at Carlos, looking nothing like the fiery kid who Skittery met the night he met Elvie. He looked exhausted and downtrodden. "What I did lost me my spot in the family."

Joe jumped forward and out from under Skittery's hand as he yelped, "She can't do that! Family first! Always! That's the rule! Her rule!" Doug slowly wagged his head, his eyes dropping again in shame and Joey took a step back, bumping into Skittery and scrambling to get the hand put back on his shoulder. Skits smiled sadly and put his hand back, squeezing gently. "Tell him Bays! Tell him she'll let him come home!" He looked up, his amber brown eyes pleading.

Skittery sighed. "You don't want none of that happily ever after stuff, remember? I ain't gonna lie to you; I don't think she will."

Doug nodded his head solemnly. "So far as she's concerned, I ain't family no more. Just like Pop." He turned those sad blue eyes to meet Skittery's. "You got Bays now, and he treats her right, like I shoulda." He never dropped his gaze and even though Skits desperately wanted to look away, he held it. "I made sure she stayed in, helped her build up that world she made in there. I told myself it was because I hated watching her fall apart when she tried to handle being out, but really, her being in let me be free when I was out. She….she held on so tightly to that apartment and she's so harsh….I couldn't do nothing right! I needed….to be away, and it felt like if I didn't keep her tucked away she would take over the place I made for myself too! I could do what I wanted so long as I followed the rules inside." He heard the confession and the backwards apology in the words and felt sad for the kid, but his anger that Doug knew what he was doing, manipulating his sister using her fear to get him what he wanted, squashed any compassion. He wanted to throttle the boy who looked up at him with the same eyes as the girl who owned his heart. Carlos hand wrapped around his elbow, gripping tightly at the same time as Joey pressed his back more firmly against his legs. Something about him told them what he was thinking. He was grateful for their presence.

Joe looked up at Skits, his face pinched as he tried to hold back tears of disgust and sadness. "I want to go," he whispered.

"Yeah, ok, Kid," Skits gritted out through clenched teeth. He wrapped his arm protectively around Joey's shoulders, but he pulled away and ran up the stairs. Everyone had the sense to let him be.

Skittery glared at Doug, who stared up at him, wide eyed and stammered, "I…I'm sorry about that first night. I was messed up from a fight, down on my luck…."

"What about all the other nights?" Skittery hissed. "What about the day you busted up the house and I spent a whole day trying to bring her back to reality? You sorry about that day?" The teen seemed to curl in on himself, giving Skits the only answer he would get. "No wonder she can't trust me, you and your no count father taught her that she can't even trust her own damn blood!" He waited for Doug to react and only got more angry when no reaction followed. "That kid up there has been talking about seeing you for a month! And you couldn't just 'hey how are ya?' him for a few?"

Finally Doug looked up, his soft eyes turning stormy. "If you love my sister so much, you know she don't stand for that stuff. No lies. Not ever. Not to save anyone's feelings. Not because you don't have all the information. Never! It don't even matter to her if you don't know you was lying! What I told him just now is what she would want me to tell him! I'm trying to do right by her, Bays!

"You let me worry about her. Do right by him if he lets you have a next time."

Doug's scowl deepened to a snarl and his fists clenched. "You gonna keep me away from him?

Skittery glanced and Carlos and imitated his stance, drawing his height upwards out of his normal slouch and crossing his arms over his chest. "Nope, that's his call."

Doug's head drooped and he sniffed a bit before coughing out a huff of bitter laughter. "And there it is, why I knew I hadda get rid of you as soon as I saw you. With you around, she would have seen right through me." He shoved the plate away roughly, "Don't let the blind thing fool you, she notices everything."

"She shoah noticed when you destroyed the apartment."

The chair flew backwards and the table forwards as Doug leapt from his his seat. "They was watching the house! I had to pay them off so they wouldn't hurt her or the other kids! They knew everything about her, that she was blind, that she didn't leave the house alone, when the kids went to school and where they work! The mess was better than the mess those guys would have made!"

Skits' arms dropped as his heart hammered rapidly. "There were men watching the house?" he growled.

"Its taken care of," Carlos answered quietly. Skittery turned back to glare at the skip trace who just shrugged. "Beth. Only people watching that house now are from the Bronx; she assigned Elvie her own detail."

A wave of relief flooded his brain and he nodded. "Give me and the kid a minute alone, huh Carlos?"

The Spaniard smirked, "Geez Bays, first me, then Elvie, now her brother? You really know how to make a girl feel cheap!"

Skittery cracked a grin. "Does that pretty wife of yours know what a dirty bastard you are?"

Carlos chuckled darkly, thumping Skittery on the back as he turned to go back up the stairs. "Why do you think she married me? I'll keep an eye on the kid."

"I got one thing I gotta do and then I'll be up there." He waited until they were alone and turned back to Doug.

"I know she ain't gonna let me come home, but once I'm done here I got nowhere to go. Carlos said you manage the restaurant at the hotel, you think you could get me a job there? I can't keep working like this." His voice got low and quiet and Skittery remembered how tired Trout was when he was working the same schedule. It wasn't something you could do for long.

He frowned. Sticking his neck out for others, especially those who didn't deserve it had never been something that came easy for him. He caused enough trouble all on his own without assuming responsibility for for someone else. But this was different. Elvie wouldn't like it, but he knew that once she got over that, she would be grateful that he helped her brother get back on his feet. "Awright," he agreed. "When Carlos says ya done here, you come see me and I'll put in a good word for you, probably can even get you a place to sleep, but if you screw it up, you's on ya own. No special treatment. I'll help you get the job, but it's on you to keep it." Doug nodded contritely as he stifled a huge, jaw cracking yawn. Skits smiled, "Get some sleep, Kid. You look like hammered horse shit."

"Take care of my sister," Doug mumbled.

Suddenly the small box in his pocket sunk like a weight in his pocket. "One more thing: with how she feels about your Pop, I dunno who to ask." He pulled the ring box from his pocket with his other hand and held it out for Doug to see. "I wanna ask her to marry me, but my Ma always said to ask for her family's blessing."

Doug shook his head, "I told you, as far as she's concerned, I ain't family anymore. Ask Auggie, they're the closest. But the only blessing you need is her's; she'd be pissed if she knew you asked me or Pop."

 _A/N: Ugh, longer break than I inteneded again, sorry guys! Buuuuuuut, I have the next 4 chapters written, I just have to type them up! Thanks to Bexlynne, Joker, my guest reviewer and coveredinbees for the reviews! I love them!_


	18. Chapter 18

Another Monday night, another dinner at the Benjamin, another chance for Elvie to hopefully erase her tantrum and subsequent collision with the dish cart from the minds of Bays' friends. Six dinners later, no one had mentioned it and they were following Bays and Nina's leads to not pussyfoot around her like she might break if anyone misspoke. She was grateful for the normalcy and acceptance, even if she mostly did sit and just listen instead of joining in the conversations at the table. It allowed her to get to know all of his friends slowly and on her own terms by listening to how they spoke to one another. Race and Blink were boisterous and loud, always telling wild tales that she was never sure if she was supposed to believe or not. They controlled the table most nights as they reminisced and laughed, regaling everyone with stories from the strike, their misadventures in the lodging house and other barely plausible things. That night in particular, Race was telling a strange story about how he and Mush had somehow helped take down a gang boss in Brooklyn. It was hard to hear what Race was actually saying through all of Blink's grumbling and scoffing, but, from what Elvie could gather, they had taken down a tenement with a marble and slingshot, some kerosene and a trout…. As ridiculous as most of the stories were, she had to believe that this one in particular was completely in Racetrack's imagination until Blink said loudly, "And the only good that came of the whole mess was that you was scared enough to come with me to ask Davey for the jobs here. Buncha morons, you was."

"I didn't come because I was scared!" Race balked. His voice was more quiet and thoughtful than she'd ever heard it as he continued. "What I saw in that building, what Marta and her boys did, changed us foah good, right Mush?" An uncomfortable rustle was the only answer. "You don't do shit like that and not question the path ya walking. I nevah wanted to look up and figure out that I was headed to another building like that."

Bays was seated behind her, his chair backwards and back to back with hers, his finely sculpted chin resting on her shoulder. Race's words reverberated through her body, making her shudder so violently that his arms wrapped around her. Sounds and smells were coming at her so quickly that it made her head spin and her stomach turn, but her mind was stuck on those words. The kitchen door swung open and shut as a waiter went about his business and the smells from inside the kitchen further twisted her gut until she had to swallow deeply. Tears came to her eyes as the words pounded against her conscience while butter and wine, garlic and onion made her guts revolt and squirm. "Hey, you ok?" Bays asked.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I don't know what's wrong with me lately. Its just like the chair." The chair he made her, she teared up every time her hands ran over the perfectly sanded and oiled arms. It was so beautiful, as all the things he made her were. The amount of time he put in carving the tiny details that her eye couldn't see but her fingers could made her heart ache and her eyes well up every time she sat down. She gave him nothing in return, she couldn't even force her fear down enough to tell him how she felt. She couldn't make him anything or give him anything and the weight of his affection was beginning to wear on her conscience. Every time she sat in that chair, she could fell his love all around her, as if she were sitting on their bench and his chest was behind her back and every time it made her cry. She hadn't cried so much in the other twenty years of her life as she had in the past few weeks. He brushed the tears away with his thumb and she felt both incredible safe and incredibly antsy as his warm palms rested on her face.

"You look a little pale…" She felt as much. Her skin felt hot and cold all at once, and the breeze that ran through the restaurant seemed to prickle and bite at the perspiration that clung to her.

"I'm sure I'm just hungry. I didn't eat much today." She put on a smile and turned to look into his deep warm eyes, running her hand through his hair. "How much is David grumbling about how you're sitting?" His face curled into a handsome but wicked grin and she rolled her eye. "You're such a child."

He shrugged, "You like it."

She grinned, "I like kids more than I like adults."

"That's why we's perfect."

Again, the loft and warmth of happiness tugged at the cold wet blanket of doubt that surrounded her at his sweet words in a strange tug of war, but couldn't lift the clinging of fear. Her heart and mind were at odds, but she settled back against him and took a deep, shaking breath in as Blink and Race continued to argue about the merits, or lack thereof, of their adventure in Brooklyn. His warmth enveloped her and his manly scent blocked out all the smells that were upsetting her stomach, allowing her to relax with a soft sigh. Race's scoffing and eyerolls were so pronounced at Blink's disapproval that she could practically hear his eyes rolling around in his scull. "All right, Ma, we get it. It was stupid. Enough about the past!" Race called suddenly, seeing that there was no winning the argument. "We've got futures ahead of us! Davey, did you think about what I told you about investing? We need to spread some of ya money around a bit or the tax man is going to come take a big ass bite out of your profits. I'll bet Clara's Pop and Scott have some great ideas about where we should invest our money."

David hmphed, " **WE** aren't investing **MY** money anywhere." He paused, his face serious, as usual, but there was something new there, something softer than it normally was. Elvie leaned forward from her warm spot against Bays where her warring body was calm to try to decipher the expression. His cheeks pinked as his eyes darted furtively to Nina. "I don't like the idea of the market. It's just a bunch of rich guys making each other richer."

"Uhhh, yeah," Race countered jovially, "and you's one of 'em."

Davey faltered, as if this information was news to him. He really couldn't see how wonderful what he built was and how well he was doing. All he saw were the pitfalls and where he could improve. She smiled at his modesty, she could barely see his face across the table, but his success was as clear as cut crystal. "I…I'd just rather use the investment money another way, maybe to help a guy like I was. A kid with a fire in his gut and a dream who can't rest until he makes something of himself." He pauses, looking at Nina again, who's deep blue eyes were staring back adoringly. "You know, pay forward the favor that governor Roosevelt and the others did me."

"That's lovely, Dorogy," Nina murmured, pulling his hand to her mouth for a soft kiss.

"Yeah, lovely," Race replied snarkily. "Too bad it's freakin' bonkers too! It ain't like kids with the kind of chutspah you had at sixteen is just popping out of the woodwork like roaches!" Everyone chuckled at Race's ability to state the obvious in the most graphic manner possible.

David sighed and ran his hand over his tightly wound curls. "It doesn't have to be a kid, just a person with a plan and a dream…and passion to see it through. I don't know. I'll know them when I see them."

Her body leaned forward without her really thinking about it and she scrutinized his face the best she could. She swallowed thickly, trying to ignore those smells that were just getting thicker and heavier as the kitchen ramped up service for the evening, and smiled at what she saw through the haze of the distance across the table. "You're a romantic. Who ever could have guessed that?"

David's cheeks blushed as he sent her an appreciative smile, but the rest of the table chuckled at what they saw as her completely misinterpreting the situation. "Davey?" Race sputtered. "Romantic?"

They all laughed even harder, but Blink managed to choke out, "There ain't a romantic bone in that straight-laced, over worked body! You shoulda seen him try to flirt with Nina! It was painful! Awkward and painful!" Nina sniffed indignantly as the others chuckled in agreement with Blink. The ballerina leaned into her husband and murmured that she found him perfectly romantic.

"Mushy's the leading expert on romance around here," Race said once he'd calmed down from his fits of high pitched laughter.

"Hey!" Blink whined, "I'm romantic!"

Katy leaned her dark head onto his shoulder and patted his hand patronizingly. "No love, he said romantic. Not promiscuous." Everyone, David and Elvie included, laughed heartily at her teasing while he pretended to sulk.

Carlos' voice cut through the chatter like a spear and it took every ounce of Elvie's strength to not throw up on the table then and there. "Eli is the real romantic." His voice still affected her even though she could keep her composure now and stand next to him while everyone else was near. She could keep herself from cowering when he was quiet, but her heart still stopped and then rammed loudly against her ribcage in an attempt to escape when he spoke.

Sophie sighed dreamily. "I think you're plenty romantic, Carlos," she said adoringly, "but you're right. It's hard to beat pining after your childhood sweetheart and nearly dying to save her life."

Elvie looked over to Bays. A man like that sounded even less believable than the whole slingshot and trout defeating a gang story. He smiled at her and nodded as everyone else agreed. She shook her head, wondering if they were all just pulling the plot's of cheap novelas and trying to convince her that they were really their friend's lives.

The waiter set her plate down in front of her and the smell of what was normally her favorite dish was the final straw. Her stomach gave a threatening heave and she choked it back before leaning over to Nina, "I need to wash my hands. Will you take me?"

Nina studied her a moment, those deep blue eyes seeing more than anyone else at the table at that moment before she stood up and waited for Elvie to grab her arm. "Excuse us," the Russian said graciously, and led Elvie out.

"Nina," Elvie choke, clamping a hand over her mouth once they were out of the dining room. "Hurry." They made it to the washroom in the nick of time and Elvie collapsed in front of the toilet while Nina wet a hand towel to lay across her hot skin.

"You're so pale," the ballerina muttered, smoothing back her friend's hair as the blind girl rested her cheek on the cold porcelain and tried to breathe her stomach back under control. As the thick smells of the kitchen receded, though, it calmed on its own, leaving her trembling on the chilled tiles.

"I think I'm all right now," she whispered, pulling the cloth off her neck to clean her face with.

"I will get Skittery to take you home."

She reached wildly into the white mist of the room, searching for Nina even as her head still spun. "No!" Her hand connected with Nina's lanky arm and she pulled the ballerina back, falling back onto the floor herself. "Please, don't make a scene. I don't want anyone to worry. I'm fine now. Please, just go and ask Bernard to make me something else. The fish," she gagged at the mere thought of the smell of her plate, "I can't eat it."

The frown in Nina's voice was thick and weighty. "Elvie, if you are ill…."

"I'm not, I was fine earlier. I just…. The fish…." she sputtered. Nina knelt down next to her, studying her sweat soaked face. "Please, Nina. Please. I can't make another fuss. Just go ask Bernard to make me something else, something light and get rid of my plate. I'll get cleaned up and be right as rain when you get back for me." Nina hesitated, but a smile came to her deep blue eyes and she nodded, leaving Elvie in the washroom to wash her face and and rinse out her mouth. She leaned heavily on the porcelain sink, staring at her own peaked face in the mirror and her hand drifted down to her still fluttering stomach. She gasped as her fingers were met with a small, imperceptible to the eye, but undeniable to her sensitive fingertips that saw everything. What was normally a soft dip between the bony protrusion of her hipbones was hardened and pushing out slightly, just below her navel. The longer her hand there, the more her mind went to her first dinner, before everything went wrong, when she and Clara were talking about the wedding dress she made. This swell felt just like the one she felt under the red silk of Clara's bodice. Her breath quickened, as she realized that Clara had only grown rounder since then. "Shit," she whispered to her reflection.

Back at the table, she settled into her chair next to Bays, ignoring all of the stares at her pallor. Once her hand was hidden under the table, it went right back to that tiny lump, as if the two were magnetized and drawn to one another. She could hardly think beyond the contents of it. "Elvie," Nina murmured, and she drew her eyes up to her friend's face. "Bernard wants to know what you'd like." The frenchman stood between their chairs, smiling at her, his face full of concern.

"So thin," he muttered, cupping her face with his warm hands.

"Hey, lay off, Bernie!" Bays grumbled. "She's spoken for."

Bernard rolled his eyes, "You need more butter, more cream, more joy in life, _mon lapin."_ Only he and she caught the slight hiccup and gag she stifled at the thought and his nearly black eyebrows raised. " _Non, non burre….chocolat!"_

The chef rushed away and Bays looked at her in awe. "You are something else, you know that? That man don't like anyone, and you've got him bringing you chocolate for dinner," he mused. She smiled warily and turned to settle back against him, her mind still in turmoil as she tried to remember when her last cycle was. She'd been so distracted working, loving Bays, and doing her other day to day tasks that it hadn't even phased her that she'd missed it.

He wrapped an arm around her as Race stood up and tapped his knife against his glass. "I got a joke to tell now that everyone is back!"

"Nina, hurry, take Elvie back to the washroom!" Blink cried in mock distress.

"Pipe down!" Race yelled back. "Why don't babies talk till they's two?" No one so much as ventured a guess, knowing that there was no point when Race was trying out his comedy show. "Because they's so surprised after being evicted and slapped on the ass!" No one laughed but Race, who was doubled over with laughter.

Clara stood patting her husband's arm, "That's Tony's 'subtle' way of saying that we're having a baby," she announced.

Everyone jumped to their feet, Elvie included, cheering happily for their friends. Tears streamed down her face and soon she was crying in earnest, but it was ok because so was Sophie and even Viv was choked up. Now she wasn't confused anymore, she knew what was going on, Clara's announcement sealed her fate. Bays stayed sitting for a moment longer than anyone else with his hand in his pocket looking dejected, before plastering a grin on his face and raising his glass. She pressed into his side and tried to decide when to tell him that they too, were expecting an extra life, but decided to wait until the right time presented, until she was sure. Like David, she felt that she would know the moment when she saw it.

.


	19. Chapter 19

Damn Race and his flair for the dramatic! Skittery had the ring in his pocket that night, nestled in the tiny box he carved for it. He wanted to ask her in front of all of their friends, and was just about to drop onto one knee when Race stood up and told that awful joke, spoiling his plans. He thought he might ask later in the meal, but then he'd glance up the table at Clara, seeing how happy she was, he suddenly realized she hadn't looked that happy in ages. She'd been sitting on the news, hiding it until she was sure that the baby would make it, and now she was just glowing with relief. He couldn't take that from her, not even if it mean waiting for his own happiness. He waited till the next week, but then Joey showed up and said Elvie wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay home and rest. June turned to July and finally Elvie was feeling well again and spirits were as high as the mercury in the thermometer. It seemed like the perfect day, and he needed to do it before Sophie popped and they had another baby to celebrate.

As they waited for the waiters to finish setting the dining room for service, Skits fidgeted and Elvie stared upward at the vaulted cieling absently. More and more he noticed her doing it, drifting off when her mind wasn't actively engaged. Her hand rested on her stomach and he smiled. She was finally eating enough and filling out, not looking so frail. She looked healthy and beautiful and he couldn't help but think that he had something to do with it. Her hips seemed rounder and more womanly, her skin glowed and (he was sure it was his giddy imagination) even her breasts seemed more ripe and full. His eyes landed on them and lingered long enough to draw a snigger out of Race and Blink. He blushed, embarrassed at being caught leering at his own girl, but she hadn't noticed. Her blank eyes were still turned to the ceiling above.

"Vie," he called quietly, brushing a strand of soft, straight hair over her shoulder. Her chin lowered and her eye drifted to his face, with a strange, sad smile as she hummed in answer. "I love you, you know that, right?" That sadness that he could have fooled himself into believing was in his head intensified. Her brow furrowed and her eyes looked away, but still, she nodded. The doors to the restaurant swung open and suddenly he didn't want to go in, he didn't want to risk being rejected in front of them all because he still couldn't tell which way she would react. That sadness scared him, even though all of her actions said she loved him, her words never did and her eyes looked so scared.

"They're going in without us," she said quietly, taking his arm.

"Let 'em," he answered gruffly. "I need you. Just you. For a minute." He gently moved her in front of him and was just about to drop onto one knee when he realized she wouldn't be able to see him if he did. Instead, he fished the box out of his pocket and set it into her hands. Her hands roved the recesses and patterns, her smile growing wide and genuine.

"Bays, you really should sell these. It's beautiful," she whispered even though she never looked once with her eyes.

"Nah," he scoffed, dropped his head humbly and letting his hair fall in his eyes. "No one would pay good money for my stuff, I just do it for fun. And for you."

She chuckled, "Never thought I'd be accusing you of being too modest." She stopped abruptly, looking stricken. "Lots of things are happening that I never thought would."

It was the perfect opportunity and he was going to take it! "Yeah? Like this maybe?" He opened the hinged lid and guided her hands up towards her face, knowing the exact place it needed to be for her to see it best. She stared at the little ring, running her fingers over the pearl in the star and the moon with its smaller diamond stars before looking up at him, those cashmere blue eyes wide. His heart clenched the longer she went without answering him. "I want to marry you, if you'll have me, Vie. Ya killing me not sayin' nothing."

She breathed deeply, her lip trembling and her hands shaking under the little box. "Why?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her, grinning. "Because ya you. Because you put up with my bullshit and let me be who I am. Elvie, marry me." He pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her slender finger.

She stared at it in wonder, pulling it close to her face that was wet with tears now. "Ok," she whispered. "I will, Bays. Thank you."

He meant to just let out the breath he was holding, but it came out as a triumphant howl as he pulled her into a tight embrace and swung her around. Her hands clutched at his shirt as they spun and she squealed as her cane clattered to the ground. He set her on her feet and held her steady while she found her balance. "For shoah?" he asked, holding her cheeks between his large palms. Something felt wrong. She smiled as tears dripped down her cheeks but she didn't look right somehow. It nagged at the back of his mind, but he tried to ignore it.

"I'm sure," she answered, offering him a watery smile. "It's for the best. We should go in and tell your friends."

"Our friends," he corrected, frowning. They accepted her, but she still held herself separate from them. Isolated.

"Of course," she answered, taking his arm. "It's better if we tell them sooner than later."

He frowned and tipped her chin up, trying to get her to really look at him, but she wouldn't. "Elvie, what is it?" That need to know what was real was eating him up on the inside, telling him that his happiness wasn't real, that the floor was about to fall out from underneath of him. He needed to know why she looked so sad even though she claimed she was happy. "I can take you home if ya feeling poorly still."

"Please stop fussing. I'm all right. Let's go."

He sighed, bending to pick up her cane and put it back in her hand. That need to know was still badgering him, something was not right, but she wasn't willing to give it up. "You hungry?" he asked.

"Sure," she answered amicably as she let him lead her in. As soon as they entered the restaurant, their large group of friends jumped tho their feet, raising glasses of champagne.

"To the future Mr and Mrs Albert Bayarri!" Jack called out merrily, and everyone else repeated it. Skittery grinned bashfully and accepted the glass that Nina put in his hand and the kiss she planted on his cheek. All thoughts of his doubts flew out of his mind. The ballerina did the same to Elvie, but she stood still and stiff, her fingers digging into his arm like they did when she was nervous or scared. He figured that the noise and fanfare just spooked her and patted her hand gently as Nina kissed her tense cheek. Elvie forced a smile at all of them and sat down next to him. She sat with a blank look on her face, not looking at anyone or anything.

"Elvie," Nina asked, staring at her with her delicate brows furrowed. "Are you in shock?"

"Yes, I supposed I must be," she answered evenly. While everyone else drank their champagne and talked giddily about a wedding at the hotel and whether Elvie would make her own dress or not, she sat, still and silent. She let Bernard choose her dinner. The only move she made was to nervously twist the ring on her finger, her fingers constantly brushing over the stones as her jaw got more and more tight until she stood smoothly, "May I have my cane please?" she asked quietly, not addressing him, not looking his way, but not looking at anyone else either.

"Do you need something?" he asked, standing up as well and going to the corner where he tucked her cane.

"No, thank you. I've been here enough, I can manage." Her face was so blank, so serene; he didn't know what to think. True to her words, she easily made her way out to the lobby and he settled back into his seat with a smile on his face. A family, he was going to have a real family again. A family of his own.

Nina's hand covered his as he reached for his fork. "I'm so happy for you, Albert," she said. "Love suits you."

He grinned sheepishly and stuffed a bite of salisbury steak into his mouth with a blush to his cheeks, ignoring Nina's concerned look at the door that Elvie just disappeared through. He finished his supper before he realized that she hadn't come back, so he excused himself while the others were still eating. The lavatory door was open, the room empty and she was nowhere to be seen in the lobby. "Have you seen Elvie?" he asked the employee watching the desk.

He looked at Skittery, stricken. "She left in the carriage fifteen minutes ago, said she needed to get home and asked me to call it for her." Skittery didn't tell his friends, he didn't even think about them as he ran out into the hot July evening. He ran all the way to the Lower East until he was standing outside the basement apartment at Ludlow and Hester.

He tried the latch, but it was locked. He yanked at it, rattling it in a panic, his mind going through all of the horrible things that could have happened to her in that amount of time. "Go away, Skittery," Elvie's voice was low, nearly a growl.

"Skittery?" He stopped abruptly and stepped back from the door. He was so confused, but she was obviously angry at something. "You never call me Skittery. What's going on, Vie? Why'd you leave? Are you feeling sick again?"

"What should I call you, Mr Bayarri?" He stepped back again, never having heard her voice sound so cold before.

"Elvie…" he murmured. "Please. Tell me what's going. I don't understand." He sank down on the cement steps and held his head in his hands. Mad or not, he knew she would eventually explain herself if he was patient.

It took about ten minutes of silence before his patience was rewarded. "Albert Bayarri," she answered.

"Yeah?" he looked up, responding to his whole name in a daze.

Her voice was quiet, measured and muffled by the heavy door. It held him down on his step like a wet blanket, smothering him. "I don't even know you, yet you know everything about me. Besides Nina, you're the only one who's seen what I look like underneath, who knows my secrets. I let you touch me, I let you into my home and I don't even know the most basic thing about you."

"Vie, you ain't making no sense. Did something happen? Did one of the kids come and get you?"

"Why didn't you tell me your name?"

"You know my name, Elvie," he growled in frustration. "You've said it a couple hundred times."

"No!" she snapped, her small hand pounding against the door. "I know Albert Bays! Older brother of Andy Bays! I know my Bays, who tells me stories about the stars and carves me things." A clatter rang out along with the shatter of glass. He imagined that was her shelf by the door. "Albert Bayarri? Who the hell is that? Is he the one who didn't tell me who Carlos was? Or the one who got my brother a job without telling me? Or the one who didn't tell me about the men watching the house? My Bays knows better than to lie and keep secrets from me, but maybe Mr Bayarri doesn't know."

"I thought you knew!" he sputtered. "You said you'd known Andy since he was just a kid, he only started the Bays thing when he started leading the others. I didn't know, Vie. You cant be this mad when I didn't even know. Let me in. We can talk about it."

"No," she answered. "I can't do that. If I let you in, I'll forgive you, and I can't do that this time, B…Albert."

It broke his heart to hear her say that, for her to refuse to see him, refuse to hear him out. "Please! Doug came in yesterday morning and got the job, I worked a double and forgot! I had other things on my mind, like asking you to marry me, for Christ's sake! The men watching the house are Beth's. I figured she would have told you since she put them there! I didn't know for a long time, Carlos tipped me off. Nothing was kept from you on purpose!"

She snorted softly and he was sure he heard a sob, "you know what they say about good intentions, don't you? Stay, go, I can't care anymore, but you can't come in."

"Then I'll wait, Vie. Just like the first night. And you'll come out when you're ready and talk to me. I'll wait all goddamned night if I have to."

"This isn't a sack of potatoes, Albert. This is my life, our lives. I can't let you in." She hiccuped back what he was sure was a sob. "Please don't make it worse than it is. You'll only hurt us both sitting here. Please, go back to the hotel."

He flew up from his seat and threw himself against the door. "I ain't going fucking nowhere! I don't know what's crawled up your ass, but ya gonna give in and talk to me eventually and I'ma wait here until then!"

"Do what you want," she whispered and he listened to her footsteps move away, and then to the rhythmic sound of her chair rocking against the stone floor. She sat there all night, crying and rocking, and he sat on her bottom step all night, listening to her, trying not to cry, trying not to draw attention to himself so that the beat cops wouldn't chase him away. He must have fallen asleep at some point because he opened his eyes at the sound of the door latching to the heat of a July morning with Joey staring down at him.

The boy looked at him pityingly. "Sorry Bays, me and Auggie, we tried to talk to her, but she don't want to see you."

"It's not your fault kid. You headed out to get ya papes?"

"Getting back," the kid answered, taking his hat off and wiping his brow. Skits stood quickly and checked his watch. It was elven thirty and he was already half an hour late for his shift, still in his clothes from the day before, stinking, sweating and tear stained. It would take him another half an hour to get back uptown and then time to get cleaned up. David was going to have his ass.

He banged on the door. "I gotta go to work, Vie, but I'll be back as soon as my shifts are over. Maybe you'll be ready to talk then." A sob was the only answer he got. He booked it back up to the Ben and tried to slip in the back door, but David was waiting for him.

"What happened?" David asked quietly.

"She didn't know my last name and now she won't talk to me because I didn't tell her that it wasn't Bays like Andy told her. It ain't even my lie and I'm still paying for it just like her brother said."

David sighed heavily and rubbed his hands over his curls as he looked down at his polished shoes. "I'm sorry to hear that. You two are good together."

"We were. I gotta make it through my shift here and then I'm going back to see if she'll talk to me yet." He ran his hands over his haggard face and groaned. "Sorry I'm so late, Davey. I sat up on her stoop all night trying to talk to her."

"I'm sorry you are too." He sounded beaten. "I warned you that I couldn't give you anymore free passes, Skits. You're an hour late, you smell like a camel and you're not even in uniform. I'm sorry Skittery, I know you're going through stuff with Elvie, but I can't let this slide."

Skittery tripped backwards, his back hitting the door that closed behind him. "Ya firing me?"

David nodded. "Yeah, I am. I'm sorry, but you're done here. You can stay in your room as long as you need, and you can keep your workshop, but you don't work for me anymore."

He didn't know what to do. He'd gone from flying high, marrying the girl he loved to having no girl, no family that he thought of as his own and no job in a matter of hours. He stared at David, who was waiting for a response, and suddenly his fist was flying, beaning the hotelier in the cheek. "Goddmanit, Davey!" he yelled. "You couldn't wait a day or two? Did ya ask what happened with her just to make sure I would have the shittiest day possible?" David groaned and held his rapidly swelling face in his hand as Blink ran up and dragged the seething waiter out the back door.

"Cool off, Skits!" he warned, blocking the door so his friend couldn't get back in. "Come back later and get your shit."

"Whatever. Pack it all up and throw it on the curb." He turned and left, going right back the way he came. Sweat dripped down his face and matted his hair. His shirt was dirty and smelled from sleeping in the stairwell, but it didn't matter. Everything was so fucked up! He wasn't even looking where he was going as he stomped through Manhattan.

Andy was waiting for him outside of Elvie's. "Sorry, big brother, you can't go in there. You's upsetting her."

"I'm upsetting her?!" Skittery bellowed. "This is all your fault with your 'Andy Bays' bullshit! How the hell was I supposed to know that you never told her ya real name? And why the hell will she talk to you when it's your lie?"

Andy looked away in discomfort, shoving his hand through his dark curls. "I dunno, I came over here with Annabel and Elvie was crying and told Annabel what happened. She wouldn't even look at me, just told me to keep you away."

Skittery shoved his little brother aside, "You couldn't keep me out the first night I met her and you can't keep me out now."

"Al," Andy pleaded, using his brother's first name for the first time in years. "Leave her alone. Let her think without you banging on the door. She's a smart girl, she'll do the right thing eventually, but she ain't gonna do nothing with you breathing down her neck."

He sat down hard on the bench that he spent so many nights telling her his mother's stories about the stars. "You say to leave her alone, Nina keeps telling me not to let her push me out. Which is it? What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Come with me," a deep voice, tinged with an Irish brogue answered. He turned to see Brendon Finnegan, arms crossed over his broad chest and a sympathetic look on his face. "Let's go get a drink, Bays." It was the first thing anyone had said all day that made any sense. With a glare at his younger brother, he left with Brendon to go drown his sorrows at Kenan's.

 _A/N: Classic "Wordy AF dons her raincoat to stave off the flying tomatoes" chapter, haha. Poor Skits. Thanks to my guest who got so excited that she reviewed twice, haha, Bex and of course my darling Joker for your reviews. They keep me going._


	20. Chapter 20

It had been three days and someone was always knocking on her door. It never stopped. She tried to get her work done sitting in her tiny stool that she'd put back in its place on the rag rug, but the constant knocking and interruptions were wearing her patience thin. Her temper was on a short fuse. A never ending stream of former newsboys and their wives were constantly knocking, trying to get her to talk to Skittery and she'd yelled at more than a few of them. He was the only one who wasn't there trying to get in. He hadn't come back since Brendon took him off to Keenan's and she wished he would. She had no intention of letting him in, in her life or her apartment, but still her heart mourned his absence and ached for him. She wanted to hear his voice calling in through the door. She wanted to know he was alright even if she had to refuse to take him back.

Her back was bent over the skirt of the wedding gown when the distinct, sharp sound of brass rapping against her front door made her curse under her breath. She didn't want to hear what Beth had to say, she was just as guilty of deception as Bays himself. "You're not going to listen if I tell you to go away, so you might as well come in," she called, going back to her work as Beth stepped in and murmured something to Brendon. Just like the other visits Beth made, Elvie had nothing to say to her.

"What kind of way is that to greet a friend?" Beth asked, pausing just inside the door as if the absence of the shelf that was now in pieces in the waste bin was jarring to her senses. The gang leader put her cane in the umbrella stand and shuffled her feet back and forth on the floor while her dark head tilted to the side. The grit of broken glass and splintered wood under her feet puzzled her. "There's crap on ya floor," she mused. "There's never crap on ya floors. You keep this place cleaner than Bren keeps our place." Elvie snorted bitterly, but kept up her silence. Her fingers moved so quickly, it was a wonder the piece wasn't full of mistakes, but if she didn't keep working she might explode. "Talk to me Elvie."

Her hands stopped and she lifted her head. "Not all of us have a man dedicated to our every need."

Beth paused, her face crumpling in consternation before she stomped forward until her toes bumped against Elvie's. "You do. If you'd get your head out of your ass because you think he might hurt you someday, you might see that. You had everything right in front of you, laid out for you to grab, but you shoved it away because you were scared. Bays would do everything in his power to make you happy, like Bren does me." Beth gripped her wild mane of curls, pain written plainly across her heart shaped face. Her voice shook with the effort of keeping her cool. "You think I don't want to clean my own floors or carry Seamus by myself? I would love to do that, but my world is dark. I trip and fall every damn day, but I get up, brush myself off and keep moving. But if I were carrying him and it happened, what then? What if he got hurt? What if I couldn't find him or he crawled into the street? My life is no picnic, but its mine! I know who I am and the very few things I can't do. Who are you? Do you know?"

Elvie looked down, running her fingers over the one thing that she could always be proud of, that always made sense, that never betrayed her. "I'm Elvina Gamble. I make lace and take care of my family."

Beth snorted and reached down, swiping Elvie's work cushion off of her lap. "Your name isn't who you are! Just like Bays isn't someone else because his name isn't what you thought it was. You are more than lace and other people!"

"I want to be like lace!" Elvie yelled. "Lace is perfect and beautiful! Tie the right knots and it will always make the same pattern. There is no fussing, no figuring out what it means. If people were like lace, maybe I would know what to do with them! You get out of the threads exactly what you put into them!"

"You know what lace is?" Beth asked, her voice brimming with acid as her hands clenched into fists and relaxed over and over. "Its just the frilly shit on the outside of a dress. It's worthless. It ain't clothes; it don't cover you or keep you warm. It just distracts people from what is going on underneath. Maybe you are just lace; just a shell trying to distract everyone from what's inside of you. You get back from people what you put in, Elvie. You just ain't putting enough in, because there ain't enough of you that's real to give." She moved away, stopping again where the shelf once stood next to the door to test the grit under her boots before pulling her cane out of the umbrella stand and stepping out the door to meet Brendon, leaving Elvie squirming in anger at her friend's words.

She stamped her foot and snatched the puddle of tangled threads off of the floor. For the first time she could remember, it wasn't the outside air that was scraping and hurting her skin, it was the air in her apartment. It squirmed and slithered like millions of insects and smothered her lungs. She had to get out and didn't think about what she would do or where she would go. Out was the only clear thought in her head. But out was savage and cruel. She was shoved and bumped, turned around and so confused that she didn't know where she was or which way to turn anymore. A voice called out, "Miss, do you need a ticket?" She froze, latching onto that single sound among the others in the loud din of the city. She had to find the source, find her way to the person who called out. Before she could find it though, she was knocked down again, dropping her cane and scraping her palms on the street. The burn of raw, removed skin brought tears to her eyes and she had to fight to keep them at bay. A gentle hand rested on her back but she pulled away with a yelp. "Are you hurt, Miss?" the same voice from before asked, but right next to her now. She looked up into a kind set of brown eyes, as he held out his hand to her. "Were you trying to get to the station for a train ticket? I can help you get to your train."

"Train…" she mumbled absently as she let him pull her to her feet and put her cane back in her hand. "Yes, I do need a train. I need to go to Sing Sing."

He led her to his window and went back behind to pull her a ticket. "What's a sweet girl like you need at a prison?"

She frowned at him. "I'm not sweet and I need to talk to my father."

After an hour long train ride and a short walk, she wrote her name on the visitor's log at Sing Sing, accidentally using three lines, and sat down in the seats to wait for them to call her with her stomach in knots. When it was her turn, she didn't stand up at first. She'd avoided him for years. She wasn't sure she was ready for this. "Gamble! Last chance!" Her legs acted without her heart's permission and she was making her way toward the voice, swinging and tapping her cane in front of her so as not to fall. The shape of the man and the blue of his uniform got clearer. "You can't take the stick in."

She nodded and handed it to him. "I'll need your arm, then."

Her fingers brushed the rough wool of his jacket, but he pulled away. "Hands off, Lady!"

She sighed harshly. "I'm blind. I either need my cane or your arm. Your choice." She left no room for argument and he reluctantly let her take his elbow and led her, none too gracefully back to the room that they allowed the prisoners visits in. She knew her father's silhouette long before she should make out a single feature of his face or even distinguish the color of his grey jacket and pants. It was the shadow that had darkened her door her whole life, never really there, just dropping in for money, sometimes giving and sometimes taking.

This was the way she knew him the best, from a distance. She could remember her mother sitting in her chair waiting for him to come home. Elvie would try to convince her to go to bed, unable to understand the undying devotion her mother held. "Love is patient as a berry cane, Vina," her mother would say, sitting the girl between her feet to brush through her hair. "It takes years to build up a strong bramble that will yield fruit. You can't expect a harvest the first year." She never understood her mother, but she loved her desperately. When she would sigh harshly and get frustrated that the woman wouldn't see reason, her mother would chuckle and lean over her, staring into the flames over her daughter's shoulder. "Do you know what else we can learn from a raspberry bramble, my love?"

"There aren't berry patches in Manhattan, Mother," Elvie would answer.

A warm kiss planted on her cheek would make her smile, despite her salty attitude and she'd look into the flames with her mother until her skin felt hot and tender. "That doesn't mean they don't have things we can learn from them. A berry cane is like a parent. It has to grow to a certain age to bear fruit. It has to flower and weather the frost of early spring, the rain and the heat before the berries will grow and it has to grow sturdy thorns to protect the tender berries, because they are it's young. A bear can only pluck one at a time and grows bored, moving away for a more satisfying meal, but a bee or a hummingbird, something that flits about and is small, can get what they need." A far away look would fill her mother's hazel eyes. "They only take the tiny bit of nectar that they need, never picking a single berry, but leaving them to flourish and grow."

"So Pop is a bee?"

Her would mother laugh warmly and stroke her hair. "No, Vina. Pop is the bear. Only getting what I want him to as I do my best to keep the thorns tightly around you. You deserve a bee. Someone who adores the sweet nectar of your flowers and the tart juice of your berries. Someone who only takes what they need, leaving the rest of you to flourish, and drop your seeds to the ground to add new vines to the bramble. No bears for you, my love." Sitting across from him, it was hard to see him as a bear. Harder than it was when she was ten. He was so much smaller than he was then, and where he was decent looking, though he normally had a black eye or split lip when she saw him, now the lines of age and concern put a haze over her vision, blurring the already fuzzy contours.

"Elvie," he said in awe, reaching a hand across the table, only to have it swatted by a guard. "Its been a long time, Sweetheart. I didn't think you'd ever come here."

"I didn't plan on it," she answered stiffly. "I was quite happy with you no longer having anything to do with my life, but things are different and I need something from you." She settled in the hard chair, wishing she had her cane to calm her nerves, but then angry at herself for being so attached to everything Bays made her.

Rob looked down at his shackled hands that sat in his lap. "Vina, I got nothing I can give you from in here. I got no money…."

That hair trigger temper of her's reared it's ugly head again as she snapped, "We're doing fine. We don't need money from you. Our money is safe with you behind bars. I need answers. I need to know my mother."

His eyes, as soft and blue as her own dropped to his shackled hands. "You were thirteen when she died…"

"Eleven."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before venturing a shamed look up at his daughter. "Fine, eleven, still old enough to remember your mother." The pain was plain in his voice, raw, as if she just died weeks ago instead of so many years. Her death and his part in it still haunting him. Elvie folded her hands on the rough table to keep them from clawing and fidgeting, trying to concentrate on his features. Trying to see the man that her mother loved. "Don't look at me that way, Elvie."

She scowled, her fist clenching until her fingernails dug into her palm. "I only have one way to look at people, thanks to you." He slumped in his seat like a kicked dog. A tiny sprig of pity bloomed in her heart and she tried to let go of some of her bitterness in order to get what she needed. She needed to know who her mother was so she didn't make the same mistakes. "I remember my mother the way a child should, but I'm not a child now. I need to know who my mother was as a person, not as my mother. Tell me about Mae"

He was quiet, but the chains on his shackles rattled as he fidgeted. "I just meant stop tryin ta pick me apart." He scrubbed his worn face, and paused there with both hands up. "Ya mother…Mae, she was special. She had a heart bigger than anyone I'd ever met. When we met, I was down on my luck, bleeding in a gutter and she took me home. Her mother just died, my brothers just kicked me out of the family business. I had no where top be and nothing to do. I was nothing except the screw up black sheep of the family. She'd been taking care of her mother for years and didn't have a purpose, I became her purpose."

She'd never asked her mother about how they met or what led her to put so much faith in a man who deserved so little of it. "Did she love you, Pop?" Her voice came out so quiet that she was afraid he might have missed it amidst the clanking of shackles and the muttering of the other prisoners and their visitors.

But that smile…it spread across his face like she'd never seen on him before. He lit up, almost to the point that she could see him clearly. "Oh yes. That woman loved me and I her, but we….we weren't balanced right, she and I. I'd never been loved the way she loved me, and her affection, I didn't know what to do with it. I could never match up to what she did for me and it made her love feel like it might smother me. I ran hundreds of times, but I always came back and she always let me, right to the end. As soon as I was gone, I wanted to be home, with her but after I was home for a bit, I had to get out." He stopped and swiped a hand over his face. "Scared the shit outta me, shouldering the burden of all that love." A ragged breath escaped her lips as she realized she was unconsciously nodding. She knew just what he meant. She loved Bays, had since the first night she met him. She was mad at him and felt like she couldn't trust him, but that didn't cancel out or take away the absence of him in her life. Her anger didn't make it easier to keep him out of her home. But Bays loved her. He loved her with a depth that scared her to her core. She could almost hear the low growl of his voice saying the three most terrifying words she could imagine in her ear, as if he was sitting next to her at Sing Sing and she shuddered at the thrill it sent up her spine. She had no clue how to ever be enough for him. She had no clue how to be more than lace and a pot of soup for the street kids and a pristine apartment. She couldn't bend over a relationship like she did the wedding gown she worked on so tirelessly. She never knew what to do with him. In fact, he was better at knowing her needs than she was. It made her feel totally inadequate and out of control of her own life. "I'd make myself stay as long as I could and I loved her Elvie! I always loved her, you have to know that, I loved her and I loved you! When I was there, it was easy to let myself think that things could be good, that I could be enough for the two of you….but then something would happen. I was never good enough, smart enough, hard working enough…"

Elvie shook her head. "She would never say those things, not to anyone."

He smiled sadly. "Nope, she never did. I said them. I'd run away to some race, some game and I'd come back and see the disappointment on her face even as she pulled me close and held me. I'd see how I hurt her and I'd try to go legit, but it never worked out, and I'd end up back at Sheepshead, back at the boxing ring, back at the tavern with the good card game, just trying to make something to bring home to you and her."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Me?"

He chuckled sadly. "You have been there almost as long as their was a 'me and Mae.' You were the reason I ran the first time. We'd only been 'us' a few months and I was trying real hard to clean up my act, but she dropped that news on me and I lit it out of there so fast it wasn't even funny. I stayed away for two months, but I left envelopes of money under her door mat when I could. When I came back, it was with a tin ring so cheap that it turned her finger black, but she still wore it and showed it to everyone she knew. I had to do right by her. I couldn't let you be born a bastard, no one would have ever treated you or her right if I'd left for good."

She knew. Somehow she always knew that she was the only reason they were together. Her hand caressed that little bump of life and felt guilty that her baby wouldn't have her father, but validated that she pushed Bays out before she could fall into the same trap. "You only married her because of me."

He snorted and shoved his hair back with both hands. "Jesus, you would hear it that way. You've always had a bitter streak a mile long in you, especially where I'm concerned." He leaned forward, making sure to make eye contact and holding it sternly. "I did it because I loved her and I love you. I didn't want you two to live in shame."

Her brow raised. "So, instead we lived in pity." Prim and cold as her words were, she was softening to him, hearing him and feeling like they had more in common than she and her mother ever had. Maybe that's why they were so close, because Elvie was a version of Rob that Mae could actually hold onto. Her heart ached at that thought. If she was her father, then all of her self protection was misguided and only served to hurt both she and Bays.

"Pity is better. At least it wasn't your fault that your father was a no count bum like me, it would have been her fault, and somehow, in some people's eyes, your fault, if I had left and not come back."

She sat back in her chair, her stomach revolting as she realized what he was trying to tell her. He didn't know how to be there, so he left them with all he could, the dignity of being legitmate in a cruel and judging world. Her hands ran over that still barely perceptible swell below her navel. Bays wasn't leaving, he was fighting to stay while she pushed him out over and over. He and his unintentional lies were never the problem. "It wasn't better," she murmured. "It would have been better if you fixed that hole inside of you and been there for real." A jolt to her stomach forced her to her feet. "My child will only know parents that are all in, no shameful bastards or pitied, abandoned wretches. Neither I or Bays will be the firewatcher, and I won't be the bear taking only what is easy to get!" He was looking at her like she was crazy; she sounded crazy, but it was the first truly congruent thought she'd put together since the proposal. "Guard!" The not so friendly guard led her out to the room he'd picked her up in and she quickly made her way to the train station and back to Manhattan, knowing exactly what she needed to do when she got there.

The whole plan was suddenly in her head, fully formed. First, she would go to her apartment. She would pack up her threads and the pieces of the dress. She would write a few letters and pack a bag. Next, a trolley ride uptown to fifth would let her stop in at Mrs Fredericks to give some instructions and beg one of those favors that she'd never asked for before. The last stop was the scariest, though. The one that would take every bit of her courage. Standing outside of the unassuming building in the Toy district, she nearly lost her nerve, nearly cried, nearly threw up on her own shoes, but managed not to do any of those things. She knocked on the door of the Fuentes Private Investigation office, but no one answered. She moved stiffly until she found the stairwell. It was dim in the inner recesses of the building, but she climbed the two flights of stairs until she stood on the fifth floor landing. Her memory of the other time she was at Carlos' apartment was foggy at best. She stood still, listening for a hint of a sound that would tell her where to go next, but there was nothing. Carlos was too quiet.

Elvie knew what she needed to do, and nothing was going to get in her way. She found the nearest door to the stairs and banged on it heavily with her fist, demanding to see Carlos but after being turned away three times, she was beginning to doubt herself. Maybe she couldn't do what she needed, she couldn't even find the right apartment on her own, how was she going to manage while she figured herself out? Beth's harsh words about her rang inside her head, angering her all over again because now she knew they were true. "Carlos!" she yelled hotly. "Carlos Fuentes! Come out here right now!" It was the voice that she used when her siblings were in trouble or when the street kids weren't following her rules, and it worked the same way.

A door opened and heavy footsteps approached her. "Elvie?" he asked, stepping closer so she could see him. A tiny bundle of blankets was cradled in the crook of his elbow. "What are you doing here, Chiquita?" The blanket stirred and a tiny pink hand reached out. She couldn't stop herself, her hand reached back and that tiny hand wrapped around her finger.

"Congratulations," she whispered, fighting the tears that wanted to fall. "I'm sorry to take you away, but I need your help."

He stared at her with the eyes that haunted her. "Come in. Sophie is asleep, but I know you don't like being alone…."

"No. I need us to be alone. You're right, I don't like it, but I need it. Can we go down to the office, please?" He agreed, taking the baby back inside to put her to bed.

When he was sitting at his desk and her in one of the chairs on the other side, he pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. "What is it you need, Chiquita? You want me to follow him and see what he lies about?"

"He's not the problem, Carlos, and we both know it. I am. I'm bad for everyone as I am, and I don't have a lot of time to fix it. I'm never going to be able to if I stay here in my same old life. I need you to send me somewhere, let me start over."

He shook his head, "No. No way. Do you know how worried they will all be?"

She ignored his protest and laid out her plan. "You have contacts all over the country. I have money for the train ticket and my bags are packed. Just tell me where to go. You helped make me what I am, so help me fix it. You'll know where I am, so if something happens you can send a telegram and I can get back here. Please, Carlos."

His face was stoney and set. She had to admire him for his attempt to remain neutral, but she wouldn't let him. She couldn't. She needed to go, if she didn't she and Bays would both suffer. More than anything though, her baby would suffer and she couldn't let that happen. "Why did you think I would help you? I'm no coward, running isn't my style. I'm sure Nina and David would help you…"

"Yes, but Nina would tell Bays, and help him stage some elaborate and silly rouse to coax me back. And I'm weak. I would fall for it in a heartbeat and end up even more angry and confused and….toxic. You understand what it is to change who you were. To take the worst parts of you and turn them around, use them to make you better. That's what I need." She smiled, "And there's the part where I know you're not really reformed at all and will keep my secret, even when they are going to the police and crying, even when they're sending out search parties. You'll keep quiet about me, just like you did all these years and you'll only contact me if the need is truly dire."

He sighed harshly, rubbing his hand over his face and pushing is hair back. "There's only one person I would trust you with, but it's a long trip."

"Good, then I can't run home when things get hard."

Again he sighed, arguing with himself internally. "Stay here while I let Sophie know that I'm going out, then we'll go get tickets and send a telegram while I fill you in on what to expect. I'm only doing this once." He paused at the door. "You realize how messed up this is, right? Being mad at him for a lie he didn't know about and then having me lie about where you are?"

She nodded, "I do, but I'm not mad. Not anymore. I made a mistake and the only way to fix it, is to fix me. Does that make you feel any better about it?"

He sighed, "Nothing is going to make me feel better about this, Elvie. When it comes to you, nothing ever does." Late that night she was on a train, westbound out of Manhattan, leaving the old her, her siblings and the man that she loved behind to go and find a better version of herself.

 _A/N: Phew! That was long! This is the bomb that Elvie dropped in my head in the middle of our move. Where oh where might that one place that Carlos would trust enough to send her...hmmmmmmm._


	21. Chapter 21

Water flooded over him, cold and clear, cutting through the drunken slumber he'd submitted to sometime in the wee hours of the morning. His arms flailed out, knocking over the empty bottle and glass in front of him as he fell out of the stool he slept on and onto the sticky floor in a wet, moaning heap. It wasn't worth trying to get up. There was no point. He had no job and nowhere else to go. He hadn't been back to the hotel in almost a week and just assumed that David had the housekeeping staff throw everything out. But mostly, he didn't have Elvie and he still didn't understand why. Soft voices murmured around him, but they were just background noise to the self pity in his whiskey logged head. Angry tears stung his eyes as he cursed himself for not pushing back against her harder, for falling for those soft eyes and the way she clung to him and seemed to need him so completely.

A gentle tap at his boot brought him a little more out of his head, enough to at least recognize the voices around him. Beth, Brendon and Andy stood nearby, but he still wasn't getting up. Suddenly, the familiar strike of Beth's cane against his shins pulled a sharp curse from him as he staggered to his feet. "What the fuck, Beth?" he demanded, dragging his filthy hand over his face to wipe away the water and bar grime before swiping his limp, dirty, dark hair back.

She struck again, her milky eyes fierce even by her standards. "I told you before, you can't sleep here," she snapped.

"You told me I couldn't sleep in the apartment because you couldn't harbor the enemy," he countered snidely. "But Elvie ain't gonna give. She's stubborn and she ain't gonna let no one talk her out of this." His body swayed, too drunk to hold him up anymore and he grabbed for the back of the barstool as Beth took another crack at him that made his knees buckle, sending him back to the floor on his back.

She stood over him, her face angled downward, but not really at him with a harsh glare on her face. "You can't sleep in here because it is a business, not a bum shelter!" Her lip curled in disgust. "You smell like a wet dog humping a bootlegger and you're going to drink us dry if you keep on this way. You're cut off, Bays. No more. You gotta go back to Manhattan."

He laid back on his back and closed his eyes. Sleep was so much more enticing than facing real life. "What for? There ain't nothing for me there," he muttered, throwing his arm over his face to block out the harsh morning sun.

"For Auggie, Adrienne and Joey, Al," Andy said quietly. "They need you. Auggie said you promised you'd be there even when Elvie wouldn't let you in. It's time to make good on that promise."

He snorted, making no effort to lift his heavy body off of the floor. "They got her and she's made it plenty clear that I ain't got no place with them." It hurt to say it. Losing those kids and that feeling of family that he'd ached for so long, was an extra kick to the gut after having his heart ripped out.

Beth knelt down next to him and felt for his face, making gentle purchase at his elbow and making her way up to ease his arm down and then come to rest on his cheek. The tender touch was almost too much for him in the state he was in. He didn't know whether to burst into tears or shove the small woman across the room, but, for just a moment, he reveled in it. The feeling of feminine fingers on his skin and the way she touched, just like Elvie, not just touching, but feeling the contours of his face and looking for clues about him in the ridges and valleys, made him miss Elvie even more. "They sent Andy to get you, Toots. Elvie didn't come home two nights ago and ain't been back since." The gentle hand moved to his hair and turned savage, yanking him up to his knees and then holding him there as he got his feet underneath of him. "You're gonna clean my bar up while Bren makes you some coffee and eggs to sober you up. Then, you're gonna take a bath and get your ass to Manhattan. Make sure those kids are ok, you hear me?" Each statement was punctuated with a jerk at his hair and he gritted his teeth so he wouldn't yelp.

His scalp felt like it was separating from his skull as he floundered around trying to escape her grip. "I gotcha! I gotcha! Leggo!" It took a bit for her words to permeate the whiskey cloud surrounding his brain, but as he stood there, massaging his head and scowling at the gang leader, the words finally hit home.

"What do you mean she ain't been home for two days?" He asked as his heart started to race thinking of her wandering the city on her own. He should have stayed there and kept her from doing something so stupid. "Where would she go? Why don't you know where she went when you got guys watching over her?"

"My boys aren't concerned with her comings and goings; they're there to keep anyone who ain't supposed to be there out," Beth answered as Brendon set a cup of coffee so strong and black in front of Skittery that the steam made his eyes water. "Drink that," she ordered, wrinkling her nose at the bitter smell. "It'll get ya brain moving and then maybe we can get you outta my bar." He sipped the coffee for a few minutes and then took the mop he was offered and began to clean up the wet sticky mess surrounding the chair he had hardly vacated in the five days since Brendon and he walked into Keenan's. By the time his cup was drained, the floor and bar were spotless, his head was a bit more clear and there was a plateful of scrambled eggs in front of him. Andy sat in the stool to the left and Bren was leaning in on the backside of the bar, watching Skits closely as he refilled the thick, black liquid in Skits' mug.

Still filthy, Skittery tied his hair back with a bit of twine at the nape of his neck and scrubbed his face as he wrestled with his rebelling stomach about the smell of the eggs. "Something on ya mind, Bren?"

The larger man let out a long sigh and filled his own cut, letting the solid wood of the bar hold his weight as he gathered his thoughts. "Something Elvie said to me just keeps nagging at me," he admitted, turning his deep hazel eyes to his friend. Skits stuffed a begrudging bite of egg into his mouth and raised his eyebrows at Finnegan. "She was so afraid to give you her heart because of her mother and father. She said she wouldn't wait for a man to be something he was never supposed to be." He took a thoughtful sip of coffee. "It made no sense to me then and even less now. What were you never meant to be?"

The realization hit him like a train. "Not me. Her. She thinks she wasn't never meant to be loved." He chuckled sadly under his breath at the irony. "She ain't gonna be the one sitting around waiting for the person who don't want to be there to come back. I am." He stared Brendon in the eye, more purpose than he'd ever felt before brimming in his gut. "And I'll be damned if there's anywhere else I'd rather be." Andy perked up beside him. "Get to the Toy District and grab Jack and Carlos and then gather the kids up. We'll all meet up together to make a plan. We'll find her. She wouldn't just leave them. Me?" His heart sunk a little and he swallowed back the lingering taste of bile in his throat. "She'd leave me, but she wouldn't leave the kids." He reached into his pocket and shook the coins he found there in his hand. "What do I owe ya for the booze, Finn?" But Brendon waived him off, refusing to take the money. He nodded his thanks and handed two quarters to Andy. "Stop by Sarah's place and the market in case there's no food in the house." Andy stared at him in awe. "What?"

A small, knowing smirk lifted the corner of the younger boy's lip. "Nice to have you back, Skittery. This is how I remember you, from you know, back in the day. At home and in the lodging house. Knowing what to do. I always knew that, 'I ain't a leader' stuff was just bull."

Skits balked. "I AIN'T a leader," he argued.

Andy and Bren shared a look, one of disbelief and amusement. "You ain't a rabblerouser like Jack, and you ain't intimidating like Spot or Beth, that's for sure," Andy explained. "But who would skip his own dinner if one of the little guys didn't make enough to sleep and eat? Who got sick that really cold winter because he gave his dumb little brother his coat when the kid left his at the park during a game of tag? Who met some kids looking for scraps in the trash and made sure they got ten pounds of potatoes? Who met a girl who hadn't been out of her apartment in years and got her out and living a normal life in just a few months? And who went from wallowing to buying groceries for kids who might need it in ten seconds flat? Huh? You, that's who. If sacrificing yourself for others ain't part of being a leader, I dunno what is." Skits stared hard at his little brother, trying to see the little kid who he used to take care of inside of the man in front of him.

"Thanks, Kid," he answered hoarsely, patting him roughly on the back before giving him a playful shove. "Go get Fuentes. I'll meet you at the apartment. Maybe check in with ya girl too. Maybe Elvie went to Mrs Fredericks." He grinned, trying to cover the emotion that was threatening to break him in two with a little teasing. "Make sure you actually do all of that instead of necking with Annabel, huh? That little redhead's a firebrand!"

"That's right she is!" Andy declared cockily as he sauntered out the door. "Don't take too long, we might get distracted waiting for you!" He watched Andy waggle his dark eyebrows and head out into the streets while he finished his eggs as a different man than the one dragged up off of a booze soaked floor by his hair not so many minutes ago.

Adrienne and Joey had been screaming at each other since the moment he walked in the door, but he hardly heard them. She was everywhere in that room. That was her space, her supplies, her work, her kitchen. Her subtle scent of cheap soap and cotton with the little hint of silk musk and her hair lingered in every fiber. The chair he made her was shoved into a corner and her tiny stool was back in its spot on the rag rug, but it made him smile, because it was just such an Elvie thing to do. He was surprised that her cane wasn't with the chair; he half expected her to be wandering the streets of New York with one of the legs that she ripped off the kitchen table with her hands as a cane.

His eyes roamed, taking in all the little bits of her that were stuck in every corner and crevice of that apartment and tried not to stare at any one place too long. He wanted to go into the back bedroom and sit on the bed, see if the sheets still smelled like them together but without the rest of the world, because that's where they were happy. He didn't, in case she washed all of their happy memories away and spent the last few nights without his scent in her nose and on her mind. "Bays, tell her!" Joey yelled, red in the face and teary eyed as he pointed at Adrienne. "Tell her! Elvie wouldn't leave us! She wouldn't! Family comes first!" Skits eyes drifted away and landed on the little table to the side of the stool where a square of darker wood stood out starkly against the scratched and faded surrounding surface. Her threadbox was gone. The dress form in the corner no longer wore the top half of a gown. Without a word, he ran down the hall to her room and opened the cupboard where she kept her dresses, but it was empty. Her drawers in the dresser were empty. The only sign that she was ever there was the necklace she wore at that first dinner with a note tucked under the heavy stone.

Her large, wobbling print jumped up. "Only if you need to," was all it said.

"I didn't want to tell him," Adrienne said quietly, her normally brash voice quivering. "I found it last night, but I didn't want to tell him." Her lip trembled as she looked up at him with big hazel eyes, brimming with tears. Her voice broke, "I couldn't tell him that we lost her too and that she wanted to go!" She went from distraught to angry in the time it took him to raise a hand to comfort her. "She LEFT! She left us and she promised she never would!" Adrienne's fists pounded against his stomach while he did his best to hang on. "She left Mama's necklace in case we were gonna starve or lose the apartment!" She glared at the heavy pendant, stopping her movement and leaning into him, pushing her head into his middle so hard it was painful. His shirt soaked up her hot tears greedily, and those hot spots made him feel all the worse. Aide knew how he felt; like everyone was always just waiting for their moment to leave. His hand raised gingerly, faltering a few times before resting lightly on her brown curls.

"I know," he whispered, choking back a matching storm. "It hurts. She left all of us and none of us knows why."

"She promised." The whisper was so haunted, so unlike "Baby Beth," and too much like Elvie. "Are you gonna stay?"

He pulled her in a little tighter. "I ain't going no where." She looked up, her eyes filled with doubt. How could he ask her to trust him when so many others had failed her. "There ain't nowhere else I'd rather be, Aide. I WANT to be here. That's what makes me different than them. Ya Pop and Elvie, they didn't want to be here. Elvie should never have had to take care of all of you. She was a grownup when she was your age and every thought in her head has been about you and your brothers since then. I don't like the way she took off, but it's about time she put herself first. We'll be fine, you an' me an' the boys." A knock at the door stopped him, but he chucked her under her chin and winked at her, before wrapping and arm around her shoulders and pulling her back to the sitting room.

If there ever were a more unlikely pair to be sitting uncomfortably on a tiny sofa than Mrs Fredericks of Fifth Avenue and Carlos Fuentes, the underworld skip trace, he hadn't heard of it. Skits stared hard at Carlos, who watched him cooly, giving nothing away. "You know where she went," he said quietly. A tiny bit of surprise seeped through Carlos' impenetrable mask before he covered it. "You didn't bring Jack," Skits explained. "If we was searching for her, you woulda brought Jack." The Spaniard's expression hardened and Skits nodded, understanding that she swore him to secrecy and that he wouldn't betray her trust. "Is she safe?"

Carlos glared at him, blue eyes glittering. "I wouldn't send her somewhere she wasn't safe." Skittery nodded again as the skip trace pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "She left this for you and one for the kids." He handed the letters over, one that said her siblings names and one, in her large print said simply, "My Bays."

He stuffed it in his pocket, not ready to face her reasoning. He needed to be strong and put together for them, not a mess for himself. "Thanks, Carlos, for being straight with me." The Spaniard nodded and took is leave, while the couturier took a relieved breath. "Don't worry, Ma'am. He ain't harmless, but he wouldn't hurt you. What can I do foah ya?"

She straightened herself up and smiled sadly. "I'm glad he spoke first. I didn't want to be the one who told you that this was what she wanted." The older woman dabbed at her nose with a lace trimmed hankie just like the one Elvie kept with her. "She came to me before she left and asked me to speak to Adrienne." She smiled sweetly at the girl who just scowled back mistrustfuly. "You and Annabel will continue making lace for me, but in the shop during the day. Elvie made it very clear that she wanted her sister to know when to start and stop for the day, and that she wanted her walking to work and being with people, not locked away here. They will both function as my laciers as well as shop assistants and will be paid hourly instead of by the piece." She turned her wrinkled face to Adrienne, who's chin was tipped up defiantly. Aide was trying so hard to keep her lip from quivering. "I'm going to take your measurements and have your uniform ready for you tomorrow, if you're willing."

Adrienne looked up at him, as if to ask what he thought and he was suddenly clutched with that familiar feeling of fear. It was the same fear when he suddenly ended up in charge of Andy, the same fear he saw on Auggie's face not so many weeks ago. But as he looked down into her face, he realized he needed them as much as they needed him. It was time to grow up beyond coffee and garlic bread and living in other people's houses. This was his chance to prove he wasn't just a cowardly bum. So, he raised an eyebrow at Adrienne and smiled as he shrugged. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

Aide gave a stiff nod and let the woman lead her away to be measured. The rest of the day was spent calming Joey, who still refused to believe that Elvie would leave, cleaning up the apartment and trying not to burn down the house while putting soup and biscuits on for the street kids. It wasn't until late that night, when the dishes were clean and Auggie was reading aloud on the little sofa that Skits stepped outside and went to sit on the bench where he and Elvie spent all of their happy evenings. He couldn't think of another place to read whatever she wanted him to know. Alone, in the room that they shared, seemed like the first step back to the floor of the bar.

 _ **My Bays,**_

 _ **I know you don't understand. I know you're hurting, but I know you'll take care of them until I come back. They love you. We love you. I love you and I trust you with the most precious things in my life. I know I can't even hope that you'll wait for me to come back. I don't deserve it and I can't tell you how long I'll be gone. Please be happy, make your carvings and sell them, because you love to do it. Save me one.**_

 _ **Elvie**_

He crumpled the paper in his hand, ripping the wad angrily and throwing the miserable confetti in the gutter as he chuckled bitterly up at the gray sky. "Leave it to you to make sure everyone is taken care of before you run away without a word, Vie," he murmured as a few dim city stars winked out at him from behind a swatch of fog. He leaned back, draping his arm across the back of the bench like used to drape it across her shoulders and stared up at the smoggy sky with no one to tell a story to but himself. It was a story about how he couldn't screw this up and needed to be more. It was a whopper so big, even he didn't believe it.

 _A/N: I have a new follower! Hi, Silver Fists! I'm so glad you're here and enjoying the story. I'm a total binge reader, and I'm honored that my story was binge worthy! I spent about a week binge reading most of Joker's catalogue when I first got here, lol. Thank you to the usual suspects, Joker, Bex and Guesty….who I've given an endearing -ey to the end of because….well, likely just because I'm nuts. The newsboys in my head keep me writing, but the reviews make it so much more enjoyable._

 _On that note, I'd like to ask for your support! I have an original (i.e. Not fic) story that I'm rolling out on Wattpad. This site and you readers have been so great for my sense of self as a writer and I'm ready to branch out! The serial model keeps me motivated to stay the course. So I'm going to put the link to the story sorta deconstructed here since fanfic will erase it otherwise. Please support my other work! I'm ready to be a "real" writer after years and years of writing and never letting anyone read it. To make the URL work, select everything in each set of parentheses (including the parentheses themselves) and replace with the named punctuation. Thank all again, whether you just read or read and review. Love to you all!_

 _Link to "The Meaning of a Life" on Wattpad: http(colon slash slash)my. ( slash )UiNb( slash )plJ84DH9XE_


	22. Chapter 22

Alone in the last dark hours of morning, she moved slowly through the sitting room with her hands on the walls. She mumbled as she moved, counting each step and naming every piece of furniture and structure she came to, her glasses tucked in her pocket. She had get to know her surroundings. She needed that independence even if she wasn't in her home. The day before she'd allowed herself to be led around and babied, but she was putting a stop to that. Now, the house was nearly silent as everyone still slumbered. It was the perfect time to get to know her temporary home without interruption.

The people who lived at the Fletcher Cattle Ranch were kind and genuine, if a bit rough around the edges. Marta and her smiling cowboy husband, Fletcher were both so warm and funny, and Darcy reminded her too much of Beth back when things were good between them to not love her immediately. The things that came out of JoAnna's mouth, the strange thoughts that lived in that girl's head were a mystery to Elvie and her Eli was hard to gauge. When he spoke, she could follow him, but more often than not, he didn't speak and let the others do it for him. He didn't let her near enough to see the expressive face that told the others what they needed to know. Darcy's husband was out taking care of something on the land with the ranch hand, so she didn't meet him, but she loved all of the children; they made her feel more comfortable reminding her of the street kids that were once her whole world.

She made another few rounds around the room and then decided she needed to know the middle where there was a couch, a wooden rocking chair and pillows and cushions that the children sprawled out on at night. Once the frame of the kitchen door was under her hand, she turned to face the room and stepped tentatively. The give under her feet the night before told her there was a carpet there, but it wasn't one carpet. It was layers of rugs and carpets and not one of them laid flat. She should have known to use her cane. She should have shuffled her feet, but when they walked her through the night before no one so much as side stepped. The ripples in the layered carpet caught her by surprise, grabbing at her toes and sending her sprawling. A frightened squeal escaped her lips, and she turned her body so she wouldn't land on her stomach, but regretted it when the crunch of glass and metal rang out from underneath her. "Shit," she hissed, pushing herself up and rolling to sit. Her hand dug through the fold of her skirt, searching for the opening to her pocket, but a cold hand clamped around her wrist before she could dig her hand in.

A terrified screech sprang out of her throat as she struggled to get away, feeling for anything around her that she could grab and defend herself with. Her shoulder ran into the wooden trim of the sofa and she squeaked again, but was no closer to finding a weapon. "Easy," a rough voice said, heavily accented with New York street drawl. "Ain't no one here gonna hurt you. I didn't want you to hurt ya hand. Sounded like whatever was in ya pocket is pretty smashed up." Regardless of the attempt at being gentle, the voice was male and unfamiliar, driving that familiar knife of fear through her chest.

Her hands and feet were moving, crab crawling her across the floor, desperate to put distance between her and the faceless man with the gruff voice. A small table connected with her hip and clattered to the floor, thundering through the quiet, sleepy house. She wrapped her hands around the spindled middle and swung, barely managing to raise it off the floor. "Stay away! Don't touch me again! Who are you and what are you doing here?!" He easily pulled the table away from her and she was defenseless, kicking and swinging her arms into the air, just hoping to keep him away long enough that someone could get to her. "Help!" she yelled.

That cold hand clapped over her mouth and another waved in front of her face. She saw the light change and recognized the movement, even if she couldn't really see his hand. "Jeeeeee-sus, I said easy! I live here. Do ya wanna wake the whole ranch up? My name's Spot, Darcy's husband. And you are…"

She yanked his hand down scowling. "Not so blind that I can't see you waving your hand in my face," she answered saltily. "What kind of a name is Spot? What did your mother name you?" He tensed, she could feel it in the air between them. It was her typical move with the newsboys who showed up at her door, never let their street names fly. She needed to know who they really were, but this time, Beth's words flew through her mind. His name wouldn't tell her anything. It wasn't who he was. "You don't have to answer that," she answered quietly. "I'm Elvie, it's nice to meet you." It took all of her courage, but she held her hand out to him.

His fingers were like the icicles that ran off the stairwell of her apartment in the spring, long, slim and cold. "Spot Conlon, at ya soivice," he answered with a quick, uneasy shake, before dropping her hand like a hot coal.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Marta demanded from the stairs. Her feet had padded bare down the steps and the pervasive, musky scent of sleep, sweaty and warm, clung to her still, leading Elvie to believe that the matron of the house was still in her nightgown. Her voice was gritty and thick. "Do you two want to wake the kids with your caterwauling?"

"Ain't my fault you collect strays and crazies like this one," Spot grumbled.

Marta took another step down and the scratch of her shawl dragging against her nightgown reached Elvie's ears. "Now, now Spot," Marta chastised in a heavily patronizing voice. "We don't talk about other people's sanity." The teasing grin on her strong face was plain in her words, as plain as her annoyance at being woken so early. "I guess it takes one to know one, eh? You all right, Elvie? My _adorable_ brother didn't get rough with ya, did he?"

"I'm fine," Elvie mumbled. "He just startled me."

The tall redhead turned and headed back up the stairs, "Spot, leave her alone."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he muttered under his breath. Elvie took the opportunity and dug her hand back into her pocket, hissing when her fingers were poked and pierced by broken glass and snapped wire. "Damnit, I told ya that would happen!" he snapped, yanking her hand back again, but there was a softening to the cutting edge of his voice. He shuffled closer on his knees and the cold of his hand settled just below hers that was still sunk in her pocket. "Turn it out into my hand." She sat still a moment, listening to the change in his voice trying to figure him out. This wasn't like Monday dinner at the hotel where she could sit and listen, getting used to the people around her gradually. These people were all she had; she couldn't isolate herself for safety here. She had to make the leap of faith and try to trust. The soft muslin of her pocket pinched between the pads of her fingers and she pulled until it turned inside out, tipping the glass shards and twisted wires that used to be her glasses into his waiting hand. "Shit," he hissed. "I don't guess you gots a second pair?" She shook her head and he snorted, "They woulda done ya a lot more good on ya face than they did in ya pocket."

She scowled again, listening to the glass tinkle in his hand. A quiet whimper from the other side of the room drew both of their attention, "It's ok, Kiddo. She ain't mad," he soothed. There was a pause that Elvie was beginning to recognize as someone using Eli's hand signs. They all knew them, though everyone but Eli, JoAnna and the two little girls only used them when they wanted to curse or make a dirty joke. "What are you doing here so early?"

She expected the silence to carry on, but a quiet voice broke the silence. "Daddo say go. Mami c'ying." It was harder to decipher those strange words than the silence or the sounds and smells. She knew she should understand, she almost understood, but couldn't quite get all the way there. He groaned, and her hand reached out, but she wasn't sure why. She reached into the mushy gray void feeling for his icy hand, but instead made contact with his face. He stiffened under her touch as her fingers dragged down the sharp angle of his jaw, a few days worth of stubble rough under her fingers, marred by a shiny, slick line. Her fingers followed that line as it went from his cheek, over his eye and then curved across his forehead. He had a scar that nearly matched one of hers and it somehow made her feel kindred to him, but he pulled away quickly before she could feel more. "I'm gonna go make sure Trout don't need help. Jo gets upset…." His clothes rustled as he pulled himself to standing and then one of those cold hands gingerly ensnared her elbow, yanking her to his feet. "You keep going with your….whatever this is. Everyone else should be up and in the kitchen soon." He moved away a few steps, and his voice lowered as he talked to the child again. "It'll be ok, Ro. You take care'a her, ok?"

They stood in the room silently, the child trying not to move and Elvie listening to every fidget and squeak. "Can you help me?" she asked, holding her hand out in the direction of the noise. Tentative little steps approached and she smiled. "I need to find the stairs."

"Why dere," the little girl whispered.

"I know it's hard to understand, but my eyes don't work right and I need help. I can't see you point. If I hold onto your shoulder, can you walk me there?" A little, grunted affirmation was followed by a small, warm hand tucking into her's. "Thank you. What's your name?"

"Ohzie," she answered. Elvie couldn't understand her and a frown wrinkled her face making Rosie drop her hand. The older girl smiled encouragingly, hoping the child wasn't frightened. She'd had other children scared of her scarred face and vacant eyes. But this little girl wasn't scared. She was determined to be heard. She tried again. "Ooooooooooohhhh…Whoa-zie," the child stammered.

Elvie smiled. Between Spot calling her Ro and the change the child made, she understood. "Rosie!" The little girl's excitement was so bright and happy that it seemed to surround them. An excited stream of babble flew from her mouth that Elvie was helpless to follow, but she kept the smile on her face, not wanting to discourage her companion. When Rosie quieted, Elvie said, "My little brother had a hard time saying R too, but one day, we saw a big scary dog, and he was growling at us! Auggie was the only one not scared, because that dog could say R and he couldn't. So, when we got home, he sat in front of the looking glass and made the same face that dog made and he learned how to say them. Can you make a scary dog face?" A little grunt answered her and Rosie drew out a long sound, but it was a "wooooo" not a growl. Again, Elvie held out her hand and Rosie's filled it, making her smile. She placed that little hand on top of her mouth and drew her lips back, wrinkling her nose like she remembered Auggie doing when he was seven or eight and let out a comical growl.

"'Gan," Rosie demanded, patting Elvie's lips gently. Elvie obliged over and over, repeating the sound. Rosie would feel and then move her hand to her own lips and try to mimic the movements without sound.

"Now you." Rosie took the older girl's hand and put it to her soft little mouth that pursed like a little bud under Elvie's fingers and curled them up, just like she felt Elvie do and let out a long growl that started with that same "Woo" but ended with a formed R. Elvie clapped her hands and laughed, "You did it! Now, do it again and say your name."

"Wwwwwwrrrrrrrrosie!" the child cried triumphantly as the kitchen door clicked closed softly. "Daddo! Daddo! I do it! Wrosie! I say Wrosie!" Eli didn't answer, but his large hands moving through the still air made soft swishes and Rosie giggled, pulling her hand from Elvie's, leaving her drifting in the unknown space. All of Elvie's fears were triggered at once. Her hands began to claw and scrape at each other, aggravating the scabbed over remnants from her journey. Soft, warm little hands covered hers and she shuddered. "It otay," Rosie said. "No hurt." Elvie held the little girl's hand tightly, a tiny flood of relief filling her, washing away some of the uncertainty. "We go 'tairs?" The tell tale swish of air as Eli signed made the muscles around Elvie's spine tense, the only thing keeping her from falling apart completely was Rosie's hand in hers, but Rosie wanted to answer her father in their language. Her hands pulled away, but Elvie's followed them, clasping around the movement, hoping to glean some understanding.

His large boots stomped towards her, shaking the floor and she froze. He thought she was trying to stop Rosie and he wasn't going to let her. A harsh growl ripped out of him as he drew closer and she dropped her hands from Rosie's, shoving the girl behind her. Her only thought was keeping Rosie safe. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Spot said, stopping Eli's approach. "Easy there, Killer." Boots scuffled and slid across the floor, but Elvie held Rosie still behind her. "Look at her, Numb nuts! She's protecting Rosie from you! She ain't gonna hurt her or stop her." Still Eli plowed forward, pushing against his far smaller friend. Spot's boots scraped along the floor until he caught some traction and shoved back. "Go cool off!" All humor and softness was gone from his voice. Eli answered with a series of low guttural noises accompanying his hands that Spot scoffed at. His voice dipped lower, something savage rearing it's head under the surface. "Don't make me remind you of what happens when you push me too far. I don't want to do that in front of them, but I will if you ain't gonna back down."

The two men paused, silent except for breathing and Rosie peaked around Elvie's back. "Daddo?" the child whimpered at her father. "Ehbie an' me, we's lems." Elvie didn't know what the words meant, but they seemed to calm Eli.

Spot let a breath out and slapped his friend on the back, "Go outside, check on Jo, do ya chores…I don't fucking care what you do, but get outta here before I chuck ya giant ass in the river to cool you off myself."

A low chuckle cut the tension in the room and Eli stammered, "Nnnnnnnnno rrr…ri…river hhhhere." His voice was gruff and raw, as if he hadn't slept, but a hint of a wry smile lingered in the words.

Spot snorted, "Fuck you, asshole. I'll throw ya in the horse trough if I hafta!" Their feet danced and shuffled as their fight turned to play. Once their feet hit the porch they whooped and hollered like children as they chased each other and sparred. Her brothers once played that way.

She sank to her hands and knees as the adrenaline left her system like a wave, taking her breath along with it. All the strength she had when he was coming towards her was gone, leaving nothing but a shivering, lost child. Her stomach rolled nervously and she rested her forehead on the floor. The sobs rushed out of her so loudly and with such force that nothing else mattered. She didn't know Rosie was still standing there watching her, or that she ran out for help. All Elvie knew was that the person she was supposed to trust her life with was ready to throttle her. She only knew that she made a grave mistake by leaving home and coming to this strange place. She abandoned everyone she loved in a selfish rush. She might have cried a lot in the weeks since that other life bloomed within her, but she'd never cried like this. This was her very soul pouring out of her and onto the floor, leaving her emptied, nearly turning inside out. A warm hand rested on her back but she was too overcome with her sorrows to acknowledge it. She was busy thinking of Bays and Joey, and how they could never understand why she did what she did. How she lost herself the only good things in her life. She cried for her mother who thought that her whole purpose was to keep Elvie and the others safe from her father and her father who didn't think enough of himself to be there for his family. She cried until her throat ached and her head hurt and once she had no more energy to cry with, she just lied there, curled up and sniffling with a nameless, faceless hand stroking comfortingly up and down her back. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't make her body obey her thoughts. The hand stopped rubbing her back, and the tears returned in its absence, oozing slow and hot down her cheeks as large arms lifted her up, encircling her body. "Shhhhhh," a low soft voice soothed. She stiffened and fought, recognizing the deep tones. He let her slip back gently to the floor and a slim, delicate hand filled hers.

The house was alive and awake now, everyone had filtered in while she cried and she hadn't even noticed. "Let him help," Jo's quiet whisper pleaded, her warm hand returning to Elvie's back. Her voice was normally quiet, unless she was telling a story to the children, when the words ran away with her, soaring like music, but that morning it was rough and rasping from her own tears. "You did so well, lasted so much longer than I did. I didn't even make it to my destination before I broke down in a store. I was so alone. My parents didn't understand me and I thought Eli had chosen his life over me. I was in such a fit of hysterics that the store owner called a doctor. I nearly asked them to send my father a telegram to come and get me, but I couldn't go home. There was nothing there for me."

Those words clenched Elvie's heart and she began to weep again, not the same panicked sobs, but mournful and heavy. "I had everything and I threw it away. I had everything I never thought I could have," she wailed.

Jo's arms wrapped around her, filling her body with comfort and her nose with the scent of roses. One arm pulled back, her hand resting on Elvie's swollen middle. "You have something still. Something important that I can never have, and you're not alone. You have us." She pulled away, smoothing back the fly aways from Elvie's hot, damp face. She reveled in the touch, in being cared for. Eli's arms scooped back underneath of her, but with Jo's hand on her back, she allowed it. "He means you no harm. He'll take you back to bed and I'll bring you some tea." Too weak for arguments she nodded and felt those large arms reach around her again. Jo moved Elvie's arms to hold around Eli's neck. "Give him a hand, that's his weak arm behind your back." The stories Bays' friends told her about Eli and nearly dying for the woman he loved came back to her and she held on all the tighter.

He set her on the bed and she heard his large form move towards the door, but then stop. "I'm ssssssorry," he muttered. "I ssssssssshould have ssssssseen."

"Seen what?" she asked.

"You," he answered quietly and then hummed out a few sounds, trying to say more, but not succeeding. Jo came in and pulled a heavy chair, by the volume of the legs scraping against the floor over near the bed. The long look the married couple shared was palpable, as if the volumes that their eyes spoke to each other could be heard lingering and echoing in the corners of the room before his footsteps neared again and he perched on the arm of the chair, making the wood groan in protest.

"It never occurred to him that you would care what he had to say, or that it would hurt you to not know," Jo answered, tucking a hot teacup into Elvie's hand. The scalding bitter liquid soothed her throat a bit. "He was already upset this morning because of me…"

"Jo…" he growled out huskily.

She chuckled sadly. "Its true, Love. Don't make me lie. I know what I am."

Elvie reached out, wanting something to hold onto, something to ground her. JoAnna's hand wrapped around hers, her rose scented perfume slipping lazily around them like a sweet embrace. "What are you?"

"P-p-p-perfect," Eli answered gruffly.

Again that sad little laugh filtered out, "If only that were true. What a fine life we'd have."

"It's j-j-j-just the wwwwwway it sssssshould be," he answered falteringly, his doubt at his words plain. JoAnna's hand ran across his skin, the feather light scrape whispering through the quiet room and making Elvie ache for that kind of touch. She missed those sensations, burning and tingling across her marred skin, stoking a fire that only more contact could put out.

Sweet Jo seemed to avoid further explanation of her own problems, instead explaining Eli's. "I noticed your conditions yesterday and kept him up all night. When he is well rested and not so concerned with me and my issues, he speaks quite well for himself, but he's used to not having to at home because everyone understands his signs here. I'll try to make sure that everyone is interpreting for him today. I imagine you felt quite left out before."

"D-d-d-d-di…dis…" He gave a frustrated growl before deferring to JoAnna to finish his thought.

"Disadvantage?" JoAnna asked, her skirts rustling as she turned to look up at her husband. He signed and Jo spoke. "I should have known better. If anyone knows what it is like to be left out of the conversation or thought less off because of something out of my power, its me. You helped my Rosie and I got angry at you for trying to understand. No one but Jo and I have ever been able to get her to change her speech. She trusts you. I should have seen that instead of assuming the worst." JoAnna waited expectantly for a moment before her hand gently slapped his chest making a hollow, drum-like sound. "Don't be a meatball, apologize to her!"

He planted a smacking wet kiss on her cheek, "I d-d-d-did! I'm nnnnnnot Rrrrrr…rrrrace."

Elvie giggled and took a sip of her tea, her free hand drifting back down to her belly. "How did you know?"

A shuddering breath answered her before Jo's soft voice whispered. "When you want something so badly, but have to watch everyone around you get it instead, you start to recognize it early on. The last time Darcy was expecting, I knew before she did." Jo paused and took Elvie's hand. "The father…"

"Doesn't know," she finished. "I meant to tell him, but everything was such a mess all of a sudden. I couldn't marry him like that, but he would have been a gentleman and put up with me. He would have sacrificed his own happiness to take care of us and I couldn't let him. He deserves more than someone….someone who needs to be taken care of all the time and who can't love him the right way."

There was something in the way JoAnna spoke that let Elvie know whether she was speaking on her own account or Eli's, some hesitation and caution that gave away her interpretation. "If he loves you, then he loves to take care of you, and the only unhappiness you could bring him would be by running away." Her voice softened and changed as she spoke for herself. "There is no right way to love, just the right way for each person or couple. Watch…" she paused and flushed, "sorry, I guess listen to how each of us are different. Marta and Fletcher, Spot and Darcy and the two of us, we're not the same in anyway, we just do what is right for us." She stood and pushed the chair away. "We'll let you rest, I brought your cane up and put it by the door so that you have it when you feel like coming back down." The two walked away, their feet falling in sync.

"Wait!" Elvie called.

"What is it?" JoAnna asked.

Wordlessly, she turned her attention to Eli, hoping he understood the question on her mind. "What did Rosie say to you? That made you stop?"

He chuckled, but let Jo interpret for him. "Me and Elvie, we're friends." The former debutante smiled and sighed happily, speaking on her own accord next. "It used to be that her only friends were her dolls and her imagination. Then we brought her here and she and Clarice are inseparable, but they consider each other 'sister/cousins,' not friends. It's quite the complement, coming from her, to be her friend."

Elvie's lip trembled again as she thought of her only other friend and the horrible things she said before she left. Beth wasn't one to forgive easily. "Perhaps she can teach me about being a friend. I missed so much. It's like I'm not real sometimes, just a machine, working and cooking and sleeping and then he came along and woke something up inside of me and I don't know what I'm doing. I need to know what to do." She sniffled feeling helpless and hopeless.

"No one but you can tell you that, Elvie," JoAnna answered, tugging Eli along with her to the door. "That's for you to feel within your own heart and mind, but if all else fails, follow your gut. It won't steer you wrong."

 _A/N: I really am trying to keep things a bit more concise...I'm just not any good at it, lol. I love that ending. It's such a great nod to MPD. Your head and your heart can stear you wrong, but your gut wont lie. I love letting my new charachters and my old characters play together! Thank you to my reviewers: Joker, Bex, Guesty and Silver Fist and to anyone who is reading but not reviewing. (Psssssst: reviews make writers happy...please review...please?)_


	23. Chapter 23

The note waiting on the table when he returned from work that morning said to meet at Sarah's. It was written on hotel stationary and, as much as he wanted to ignore it in favor of a bath and a glass of the smooth, expensive vodka Nina sent him as a housewarming gift when he moved in with the kids, he kept his boots on and poured coffee instead. He stared at the thick, expensive paper for a moment, not picking it up from the scoured table top. It was David's handwriting and Skits wanted another go at the hotelier…but he also missed his friends. He missed goofing around and remembering their times as kids. He missed teasing David about the stick up his ass. He'd always kept himself separate from the group of them that stayed together so long, only going back when it was beneficial for him, but now he realized how much he depended on those interactions.

There was no joking at his new gig. They were down underneath the city, digging out and reinforcing the tunnels for the new subway lines that would open in the coming years. The bosses said that someday the underground trains would be able to take people from one end of Manhattan to the other in only a few minutes, but he'd believe that when he saw it. There was no light down there besides their lamps. Vast darkness stretched between the men, each cowering in their little bubble of lamplight and each just as desperate as the next for the weekly paycheck that didn't pay nearly enough for how hard and dangerous the labor was.

He sat at the table sipping at his coffee and glaring at the note. He didn't want to go, but he hadn't seen anyone but the brief glimpses of the others in the tunnels and a quick hello or goodbye to one of the kids in a few days. When he raised his cup to his lips and found that it was empty, he knew he couldn't put it off any longer. He either needed to blow David off or go meet him. With a long, lingering look down the hall towards the bed he really wanted to crawl into, he left the apartment without so much as washing his face. He walked the few blocks to Harkins Bakery still covered in the muck and mortar from the previous night. His boots were heavy with exhaustion and thick with mud and his face was black as a chimneysweep's. He didn't have to clean up for Davey anymore and he didn't have the energy for childish pranks. The quicker he got there and heard his old friend out, the quicker he could get to his bed. He stopped in his tracks with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Being closer to his bed meant being closer to the next day of back breaking, soul crushing labor beneath the streets. It also meant that another day had passed without Elvie. He almost turned and went back to the apartment to go to bed right then and there. Those two thoughts brought on a heaviness, like a weight pressing in at him from every direction and he almost couldn't keep going. He was too tired. But, the bake shop was just ahead, closer than the apartment now, so he kept going. At least Sarah would feed him sweets until he was too full to do anything but sleep.

The shop was filled to the brim with people when he walked in, so many people that it took him a moment to realize that he knew all of them. With the exception of Andy, who stood grinning at him from the back of a cluster of older newsboys and Nina at David's side, he hadn't seen any of them in a few weeks. Besides Andy and Nina, not a single one of them recognized him. Nina elbowed David, nodding her head towards the new arrival as Andy came up to him. "What the hell, Tumbler?" he croaked, putting a good natured scowl on the teen's face. "Couldn't whatever this is wait until after I got some shut eye?"

"Shut up, Albert," Andy snapped, but threw his arm across his brother's shoulders. "And no it couldn't wait. We wanted to make sure you never had to go back to the tunnels." Andy pulled him closer, sounding young and clinging to his brother like he hadn't in years. "Promise me you wont go back down there."

He sighed heavily, leaning back into Andy. "I gotta work and that's what I could find. I gotta help the kids out." His voice dropped low. "She's countin' on me."

Andy's brown eyes stared into his for a minute sadly, before turning to Dave. The hotelier was approaching slowly, warily, obviously trying to reconcile the image he had of Skittery in his head and the scruffy, dirty, glaring man in front of him. "Hear us out, Al. For me." Skits looked back, fighting within himself. He wanted nothing to do with whatever David had to say, but he couldn't deny something as simple as standing still to Andy. He nodded subtly and looked back to David.

"Is that really you, Skits?" he asked.

Skittery sneered. "Who was you expecting? Alice Roosevelt?"

His blue eyes moved steadily up and down Skittery's body as he chuckled. "You look like shit."

"Gee, thanks Davey. That's real sweet." He waited, but his old pal couldn't seem to separate himself from his awe. "If you's done staring, I gotta get to bed so I can get back to work tonight. Ya know, since _my friend_ fired me for taking care of my family."

A frown spread across David's face, lowering and crushing his thick brows together. "That's not fair," he gritted. "You tied my hands, Skits. You know you did. I warned you that you were out of chances."

"You knew what was going on! You knew where I was and why! If a guy ever earned…"

"You wasted all the free passes being a jackass!" David bellowed, but then seemed to shrink back, regretting his reaction.

Skittery stopped. He knew that was true and it was time to be man enough to admit it. "Yeah. I did," he answered. "Sorry, Dave. I just wanted some of what happened to not be my fault."

Dave took a deep breath, "It wasn't." He smiled and slapped Skits on the back, "I mean the part where you got fired, that was totally your fault, but the rest of it wasn't." A deep laugh rolled out of Skittery, he hadn't laughed in the weeks since Elvie disappeared. The sensation seemed to realign something inside of him. He laughed deeply and fully, feeling his senses come back, all of the things he hadn't felt in weeks, while he'd been so numb. Then, the things he'd been protecting himself against came bubbling up behind and he ducked away from his friends and into the kitchen of the bakeshop, but David followed right behind and stood sentinel while Skits tried desperately to pull himself back together. He pinched his thumb and forefinger in his tear ducts, trying to plug the source of the moisture on his face, but it was no use. His nose ran and this throat tightened, but he refused to let it go further than that. "Andy," David said quietly, "I'm going to take Skits next door. Give us a few and then…you know…" Andy nodded and went back to the store while Dave grabbed Skittery by his shirt sleeve and drug him out the back door and down the alley to the next door.

They stood in the dirty store. There was brown paper on the windows, but enough light seeping through at the edges to catch dust motes in the dim sunbeams. Dust covered the floor, and the rafters were full of cobwebs and pigeons. "What are we doin' here?" Skits demanded, his voice still rough and reedy.

Dave looked around proudly, as if this was the lobby of the Ben and not a dirty, abandoned store front. "Do you remember me and Race talking about how I needed to spread my money around so that I the tax man wouldn't come after me for so much?" he asked. Skittery shrugged as he looked around as well. The place had been vacant so long that the pigeons and rats seemed to have made themselves at home. He couldn't remember the last time there was a business next to Harkins. Dave spread his arms wide and grinned, "This is part one of me diversifying!"

He stared at Dave, not knowing what he was really supposed to say in such a situation, and just barely holding himself back from giving the guy a second taste of his fist. "Congrats, Davey. You bought a shithole." Dave kept him from his bed to gloat. This was just the kind of thing he expected. He wished he stayed at the apartment with his bed and his vodka.

Davey looked at him, the pride slowly leeching out of his blue eyes, replaced by something sad, something that Skittery recognized but couldn't name. "Elvie called me a romantic that night and everyone laughed at her." He looked down at his polished shoes. "But she was right. It was always going to be you, Skittery."

He stepped back. "Whoa, there, Davey. I know I'm sad and a little pathetic and all…but I ain't never gonna be THAT desperate!"

David's eyes grew wide and an embarrassed flush filled his cheeks and ears as he realized what he said. "Uh…no…" he stammered uncomfortably. "That's…ew…I didn't mean it like that!" One of the pigeons in the rafters gave a disgruntled coo and let loose a stream of white goo that landed wetly on the shoulder of David's expensive suit. "Ugh!" he groaned. "This is not going how I pictured this…. You're a shitty employee, Skittery. The actual worst, in fact, but you were a great manager and as an artist…I had no idea you were that talented." This was shaping up to be the second most confusing conversation of Skittery's life. He wasn't sure if he was being complimented or insulted nor what the actual point that Davey was failing so miserably at making was. What did Elvie calling him a romantic have to do with any of it? The hotelier let out a frustrated sigh. "I said I wanted to help someone instead of investing in the market. A person with a fire in their gut who couldn't sleep until they were doing what they were meant to be doing. Someone like I was when I took ownership of the hotel, and you've been here on my doorstep this whole time, but I couldn't see you properly because I was too busy being annoyed that you worked for me." Skittery scrubbed at his face, still unsure as to where this was going. "This is your storefront, Skits and your apartment upstairs." He stared at his old pal, who was trying his best not to grin as realization dawned in Skittery's sleep deprived mind. "You have six months to turn a profit before you start paying rent." He pulled a fat roll of bills from his pocket and held it out. "This is my investment in your company. It should be enough to get you start up materials and clean this place up."

"Ya crazy, Dave," Skittery muttered, shoving David's hand and the roll of money away. "What the hell is it that you think had me so fired up, huh? I can't do nothing that needs a whole store!"

David laughed, but stopped abruptly, realizing that Skittery wasn't joining in the chuckle. "Chairs, jewelry boxes, canes, umbrella handles….stuff like you made Elvie. You could even make furniture with carvings on the drawer fronts."

This was ridiculous. He carved because it made him happy. He carved because it was something he could give to Elvie that she could really see the detail of, even if it was with her fingers. He carved because it made her proud of him. He'd never carved for his own gain, that thought had been smacked out of him by the time he was twelve. He wasn't good enough for that. "You said you wanted someone like you was," he gritted. "Someone with plans and dreams and fire…..that ain't me. Remember, biggest pain in ya ass? I'm a grunt, Davey. Just here to follow orders and fill coffee cups. Put ya money away until you find someone better to bet it on."

He looked up, expecting to see David deflated and defeated, but the smile on his friend's face didn't falter. It spread wider and his blue eyes twinkled merrily. "I'm not a betting man, I leave that to Racetrack. You're a sure thing. You may not know it yet, but you have the dream and you have the plan. I could see it when you'd come back to the hotel with tools, when you set up that workshop down in the cellar. You knew exactly what you were doing and you were willing to spend your money on second hand tools and your nights practicing dovetails to get there. At the time I was just grateful that it all kept you too busy to be a nuisance to me anymore. It wasn't till after everything blew up, when Nina came home and told me how poorly you were doing with everything, that it was like the lights went out in your heart, that I realized that I had who I was looking for all along."

He shook his head in disbelief, but couldn't help the tentative smile tugging at his face. "Ya crazy, ya know that?" he muttered. "Ya crazy and this is the stupidest thing ya ever done, including mouthing off to Spot Conlon." He raised his brown eyes and his dirty hand simultaneously, "But I'd rather take a chance on stupid than go back down in them tunnels even one more night." David grinned and spat in his palm holding it out. Skits chuckled before doing the same. "But you can't fire me if I don't do what you want, right? This is my business?"

David nodded, wiping his hand on his trousers. "You don't work for me, thank god. You work for yourself. I'm just a silent partner. I'm elated to say that you will never work for me again. EVER."

They both got a good laugh out of that, but were stopped when Andy knocked and peeked in the back door. David nodded and all of the people from the bakery that Skittery had forgotten about all together began to file into the dirty, vacant storefront. Mrs. Fredericks and Annabel, followed by Sarah and Ed Harkins came in smiling sheepishly. Mush, Blink, Jack and Race all looked like they were up to no good and might burst if they didn't get to brag about their exploits soon. Nina and Natalia came in arm in arm just after Doug and they all gathered around him, grinning like they knew something he didn't. Dave cleared his throat and Sarah stepped up first. "While you get the business on it's feet, you are welcome to eat with us. We have plenty to spare and if we go more than a day or two without seeing you, you better believe I will be over here force feeding you." Everyone laughed at the stern look she tried to maintain. "I'll also take care of Elvie's soup line, all I need from you is that you spread the word to them to line up here in the alley instead of at Elvie's." He thanked her quietly as a large lump formed in his throat. Looking around, it was obvious that they were all there to help and he didn't know how to act. No one had ever been that kind to him. Mrs. Fredericks offered him all of her larger brocade and velvet remnants for cushions and jewelry box linings, as well as offering to make sure Adrienne was fed at lunch and dinner. Nina and Natalia handed over a book of Russian fairy tales with fascinating bookplates for inspiration and another bottle of smooth, expensive vodka. Nina stayed by his side, sensing the fragility of the thread he was hanging on to his composure with. His pals from the hotel each carried a few of his tools from his shop in the basement and Jack handed him a note from a lumber mill. They'd all pooled some money together and started an account for him at the mill so that his first order of lumber was paid for. Andy and his boys offered themselves up as shop boys and trainees. They needed jobs to do as they aged out of being newsboys.

Last was Doug, who handed him an envelope filled with coins. "It ain't much, but it's all my tips since I started working at the hotel. I was gonna give them to Elvie to pay back all the money I took, but I figure it pays back everyone if it goes to the business that feeds my brothers and sisters." He stared down at his boots. "Thanks, for taking care of them better than I did."

He gingerly pulled open the tab of the envelop and looked at the coins. A part of him wanted to give them back, but another part knew that Doug needed to pay his siblings back, to make amends in the only way he could. "Looks like you's taking to waitin' tables pretty good. These are good tips." His voice rasped out tightly and Nina squeezed his arm a bit tighter. He patted her long fingers gently. "Thanks, Doug."

Doug nodded with a tentative smile before his brow furrows in worry. "Did Joe make it back ok?"

"Back from where?" Skits asked, standing straighter, his body on high alert.

Doug shoved his glasses up his nose and blanched. "I found him out in the streets late last night, somewhere he shouldn't be. He said he was looking for Elvie, because she wouldn't leave. He wouldn't listen to me. I collared him and dragged him home at one in the morning."

"Shit," Skittery hissed. "He's normally gone to get his papes before I get back in the morning. I didn't even check. Thanks for keeping an eye on him." Doug nodded, shrugging away from the praise.

They all stayed a bit longer, milling about, but they all had work to do and lived to lead and began to filter out until it was only David, Nina and Skittery left. Skits sat on an empty crate staring around the room feeling both ready to work and vastly overwhelmed all at once. "Skits," David called, grinning at him when he finally focused, "we're going to head back to the Ben."

He nodded, "Thank you, Davey. I don't know what else to say."

"Say you'll make us some money," Dave answered, earning him a punch from Nina. "Ow! Nina!" he whined. She cursed at him in Russian, while he rolled his eyes. "You don't need to thank me, Skits. I know you can do this." He pulled a folder out of the briefcase he carried. "I know Nina told you about these….and if Nina didn't, Racetrack surely did. It's my employee file I had on you. I was going to burn it, but I looked through it again and I think you deserve a look. I think there are things in there that Carlos found that you don't even know about. You're only about half the screw up you think you are." He didn't want to, but he took the folder from David's hand, but he wouldn't open it for many more weeks. He told himself, when the time came, that he was busy with the shop and the kids and that's why he didn't look, but the truth was that he was living up to his name yet again. He was too scared of the truths Carlos uncovered to even see what they were.

**snigger** Skittery didn't like me ditching him to re-order MPD. Evie's next chapter is written but not typed. Shouldn't be too far behind!


	24. Chapter 24

Elvie tied the last knot in the last raspberry the same day she woke up to find that something in her body shifted over night. Instead of a gentle swell, the hardened protrusion of the life inside her belly pushed out enough that anyone could see she was carrying a child. Her dress strained at the seams to fit as she inspected the piece of art, snipping any loose threads she found before carefully wrapping it in tissue and oilcloth to protect it on it's journey back to New York.

The bunched and wrinkled carpets no longer tripped her, and the cushions and toys on the floor didn't bother her. They were a part of her life here. She was never without her cane now. It was as much a part of her as her blue eyes or her scars. It was just an extension of her arm, replacing her failing eyes as she made her way with her parcel out to the wide front porch. Will and Jesse shot marbles in the yard, with Teddy peering over his older brothers shoulders, squealing gleefully every time the shooter hit it's mark. Clarice and Rosie were just to her left, singing a rhyme and clapping their hands together different ways in rhythm with the words. As quickly as she stepped out and into the sunlight, their clapping stopped and Rosie's hand wrapped over her's on the head of her cane, pressing her palm into the carvings. "We go, Ehbie?"

Elvie smiled, shifting her cargo under her arm to reach out and gently stroke Rosie's soft hair, trailing her fingers down one of the thick braids. "I need to go to town and mail this back to New York so that the bride looks beautiful at her wedding. I think that's a little farther than you can take me."

Rosie nodded. "Needa Daddo," she agreed, taking Elvie's hand off of her hair and placing it on her shoulder. "Daddo o Po tate uts."

Rosie smiled, able to understand easily that Rosie thought that either Eli or Spot would take them to town. She didn't mention that Spot was already hitching the wagon for her. Rosie enjoyed having someone to be helpful to too much. She no longer cowered away, mumbling in shame. She trusted Elvie enough to speak freely. "I'm sure one of them will, but wouldn't you rather stay and play with Clairey?"

Rosie paused looking to her cousin, before shrugging under Elvie's hand. "Cyarey nottah boss me." Clairey huffed and stomped into the house.

The slow crunch of gravel, the slap of rope against leather chaps and the light but long steps gave the approaching cowboy away and Elvie smiled as the smell of sweat, horse, saddle soap and Marta's hair oil drifted around her as Rosie cried out, "Fetch!" gleefully.

"Miss Rosie! Miss Elvie!" he greeted as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. "What can I do for you ladies this fine morning?"

Rosie stepped to the edge of the steps and Elvie followed. "Ehbie needa go 'tore," Rosie answered imperiously, as if she had the most important job in the world. "Meow she bobby dess."

Fletcher chuckled proudly at the attempt. "To the store, you say? Well, it just so happens that Spot is hitching up the wagon to head to town right now! You go ask Puss if you can go with him first." Rosie ran off and the cowboy took her place at Elvie's side. "You gonna be all right in town? You need to be careful in the streets, its been a wet summer and the road outside the mercantile is muddy and uneven."

Not long ago, that would have been enough to keep her away, but instead of a panicked flip, her stomach only gave a nervous flutter and she smiled. "I'm in good hands," she assured him. "Besides, if I don't send it myself, it won't feel finished. I have to see it through."

"Atta girl," he applauded proudly. "Anything you need while you're there, you put it on my account."

She had no intention of taking him up and that offer and instead changed the subject, "Why do you call JoAnna 'Puss'?"

He chuckled, "You ask her that. If she catches me telling that story, I'm likely to get slapped around…again…by all three of them."

On the road to Kiowa, Rosie chattered merrily in the back of the wagon, but Elvie and Spot rode in companionable silence. It was in those quiet moments that she missed Bays the most. She could hear echoes of his voice in her head, feel his lips against her cheek, tilted by a subtle smirk. Mostly she remembered his stories of pictures in the stars that she would never see. She missed his soft lips on hers, his big hands so surprisingly soft and smooth on the scarred skin at the nape of her neck, her damaged nerves heightening every subtle movement. She turned her face to the sun and let out a soft sigh that anyone else would have missed, but not Spot Conlon. "Ya look like JoAnna with that stupid, loopy smile on ya face," he teased. "What are you doing, looking up at the sky, anyway?"

Her smile stretched wider. "Star gazing."

He snorted, "Crazy. I always get stuck with the crazy ones."

She giggled, "Tsk tsk, takes one to know one." He snorted again and let out a tentative chuckle.

There was a commotion, a roar of disgruntled voices when they pulled up in front of Mason's Mercantile in Kiowa and it had Spot on edge. She could feel the tension rolling off of him as he helped her down from the wagon seat. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Dunno," he answered, the stress making his voice more gruff than normal. The Brooklyn accent came out strong in his clipped words. "You and Ro go inside. Stay there till I come get you." He roughly slammed her hand down on Rosie's shoulder, making both girls yelp.

"Po!" Rosie cried indignantly, but it only earned them both a rough shove towards the door.

"Stop talking and go inside!" he barked. While Rosie cowered away from him, Elvie heard the panic underneath the demanding tone. She heard the fear, the need to protect the two of them.

"Come on, Sweetheart," she cooed at Rosie, and giving a slight nod in Spot's direction. He needed to know that she understood. "You stay with me." They wandered the store until they reached the sewing materials. Elvie's fingers ran over the supplies, the shiny wooden spools of thread, and the soft bolts of fabric until they landed on a plush piece of whisper soft muslin. It was pillowy and gentle, the perfect thing for a baby blanket. Mr Mason wrapped up her fabric along with a few spools of blue thread and handed each of them a peppermint stick. She was out the door and seated on a bench before she realized that she took Fletcher's offer, and even more strange, that she was at peace with that. She trusted him and knew that he offered because he wanted to. His friendship was not transactional. He wanted nothing in return. Rosie hummed beside her, swinging her short legs while she sucked on her candy.

The guilt that she could take Fletcher's friendship as he offered it, but not Bays' nor his friends, nor even her brothers and sister's that way was no longer all encompassing. It was a hunger pang. A gentle pain, driving her to better herself so that she could go back and be with them. It made her remember them, remember every detail of what she knew about the people she loved while the Fletcher's little potluck family showed her the way she wanted to be.

Back in New York, she thought she needed Bays. Sure, she needed help getting where she needed to go, and she had needed the kick in the pants that he gave her to get out of the monotonous safety of her apartment, but she didn't need him to be her everything. She wanted him to love her, not take care of her, not parent her. She didn't need him to take her everywhere. She didn't need him to worry about her falling down stairs or panicking because she got spooked. She also didn't need the stranglehold she kept on her life before. She needed to live and she wanted to do that with him by her side. She missed him and what he showed her that her life could be when they were together. She missed a life that her fear could never have allowed them to have before, but now, it seemed possible.

Rosie jumped to her feet, tugging on Elvie, speaking too rapidly for the older girl to follow. "Miss Gamble?" an unfamiliar voice, twinged with the same slight lilt of the Spanish language that Carlos' got when he let his guard down said gently. Because Rosie warned her, she managed to remain calm and not flinch at the new voice and instead, turned her mouth upward in a shy smile.

"Yes?"

"I'm Manuel Cruz. I'm the sheriff," he explained, thankfully keeping his distance from her. "Spot asked me to come get you." She nodded stiffly and stood, only to find that he was kneeling in front of Rosie. The kind smile in the man's voice put her at ease. "I need you to run home Rosie and send Darcy or Fletcher back. Can you do that for me, Honey?"

Rosie was silent a moment, gripping Elvie's arm tightly. "Po say I 'tay wip Ehbie," she answered staunchly.

"I promise I'll take care of Elvie," he answered. "I'm going to take her to sit with Spot. He needs you to get Darcy or Fletcher. Please. Run straight home."

"Otay," she agreed and took off running down the busy street towards home. Seeming to understand that something serious was going on. Elvie could feel his fear and discomfort before she ever took his elbow.

"What's going on?" she asked quietly once Rosie was out of hearing.

The middle ages man took in a tentative breath, the muscle in his bicep clenching under her hand. "There's been a rash of thefts and people were gathered in a mob trying to get the mayor and I to do more about it. Spot was helping me settle them down and send them home and took a few punches too many." He paused. "I don't know how much you know about him…"

"Enough to know that he can't handle that," she answered. They had all warned her early on in her stay about Spot and his temper, the way his past came back to haunt him from time to time.

He nodded. "He begged me to lock him in one of the cells when he felt himself slipping. You can wait with him."

He sat her in a hard wooden chair and left her to go clean up the mess left by the angry townspeople. On the other side of the room, Spot's shallow shaking breaths and restless body made noise that was painfully familiar. "Spot?" she called, knowing that he was feeling like his skin was too tight, that the world was pressing in on him from every direction and, worst of all, that the line between past and present was too fuzzy to distinguish. She knew what it was to not be able to tell if what she saw and felt was real or a horrifying echo of a time that was bad enough the first time around. He didn't answer her, but the longer she listened, the more she recognized the grunts and whimpers as off key attempts at humming. Her brothers would never believe her, Spot Conlon humming to himself to try to keep himself calm. "Spot, I'm here," she murmured, saying the words that she always wished someone would say to her all the times she was sure that Tomas was coming back for her or her siblings. "I'm safe. You just take care of yourself, ok?"

"Vie?" he asked, shakily. His voice and her heart broke simultaneously as the impact of him using Bays' nickname slammed into her.

"Yeah," she choked. "I'm here. Darcy's on the way. I know it feels impossible, but relax if you can. Everything is taken care of. It's just you and me in here." She kept her voice low and soft, like Beth did for her the day Doug broke into the apartment and just kept up a steady stream of chatter. She always gave him a chance to answer, but kept talking when he didn't. "Are you hurt? The sheriff said you took a few punches."

"Come over where I can see you!" he demanded. "Show me your face." She froze at the rough command, digging her nails into the underside of her chair. "Please, Elvie," he pleaded, softening his tone. "You…you wasn't there when all the fucked up stuff happened. If I can see you, then the bad shit I see ain't real." She wanted to smile and cry all at once. It was genius really, using the people around him to differentiate between the waking nightmare in his head and reality. It was genius and she would never have come to such a solution, locking herself away from people in her dark apartment, following her rigid rules.

She sank down next to the barred door of the locked cell and he left the creaky cot and sat down next to her. His cold fingers darted out, resting on top of hers, only to pull back again. "That's why you asked for Fletcher if Darcy couldn't come. He wasn't there either." He grunted in affirmation and his hand darted out to touch her's again. "Did anyone ever tell you stories about the stars?" she asked. "About pictures in them?"

"Ain't no one ever told me stories about nothing," he gritted. "Alls I got told was the score, that life is a fight and then we all die. You want fairy stories about fake pictures in the sky, you ask Jo. She probably knows 'em in four different languages." She laughed sadly at his dismissal while he mulled something over in that fractured mind. "Marta used to sing to us, when us little guys had nightmares." She could picture Marta like that in her mind, singing quietly to a group of ragged little boys with tears in their eyes. She sang most nights in the sitting room while Eli played along on a violin, her low voice like a warm blanket to all of them. "And when I'd get like this, Trout whistled her song. Kept me…there, with him."

"Maybe I know the song," she offered.

"Its one of the hymns from the church school. Something about Angels watching over you all night long."

Her own mother sang that lullaby to her and Doug when they were small. It was a faint memory, but she did her best, humming the melody and the chorus as he sighed, the music a balm to his soul. Over and over she hummed until the door clicked closed behind her and Darcy's small hand rested on her shoulder. It trembled, even though she was sure that the tiny blonde didn't show her worry anywhere else.

"Darce," Spot said hoarsely, panic rising in his voice. "I didn't hurt no one! I just took a few punches and things started getting…like they do and I made Cruz put me in here. I promise. I didn't hurt no one."

"Shhhhh," she soothed, sinking down beside Elvie. "Cruz told me and I'm so proud of you, Sweets."

"I didn't hurt no one," seemed to be the only response he was capable of. She shushed and soothed him, her voice hypnotic and even. Elvie's heart ached for both of them, and for Bays. He must have felt so helpless when it was her like that. She was so hostile to him when he was just trying to help. "I waited for you," he said softly, his hand sliding across the stone floor to take hers through the iron bars.

Darcy chuckled sadly. "Silly Ass," she cooed. "You took care of everyone and now its your turn. When you're ready, we'll go home."

His heart rate shot up and his breathing became shallow and panicked again. "No," she whispered sharply.

"Ok," Darcy answered easily, "that's fine, but we're sending Elvie home. You and me can handle this together, right?"

"Right," he whispered defeatedly.

Jo drove the wagon in silence for a bit before her quiet voice raised above the clatter of the wheels on the rutted road. "Are you all right?"

Elvie turned, confused. "I was in the store. I'm fine." Something was scratching at her brain and it wasn't her business, but at the same time she needed to know. "He never tells her he loves her." She never told Bays either, but with how strong the bond between Darcy and Spot was, it was strange that neither one ever said those three words that Bays was always fishing for from her.

Jo pulled the horses to a stop and turned so their knees touched. "I'm not sure he ever has or ever will tell her, but he does love her. He loves as fiercely as he does anything. Her above anything else." She spoke like a poem or a play, everything lyrical and lovely.

"I know," Elvie said with a smile. "I knew from the first time I was with both of them in a room. Just like I can tell how you feel about Eli even though you hardly speak around everyone. Its around all of you. In all my life, I never knew there could be so much love as there is in that farm house. " She wondered if that was there around her and Bays and she was just too silly to see it. "He was so relieved she was there with him."

JoAnna clicked her tongue and loosened the reign to get the horses going again. "He's no picnic even on his best days, but he has a good heart underneath all the…well, crazy." She paused a bit and squirmed uncomfortably. "Did he say or do anything odd?"

"No," Elvie answered. "We just talked about when we were kids." She tilted her face back, letting the sun warm it. "What do you know about stars, Jo?"

"What about them? I know astrology, some astronomy, and a bit about planets."

"Pictures drawn in them." Excited by the prospect of telling stories, JoAnna's voice lilted and soared as she went through every constellation myth she knew and Elvie let the words wash over her, swallowing past the lump that formed in her throat each time Jo told one that she knew from Bays. When she finally stopped to breathe, Elvie grabbed her friend's hand. "Help me see them, Jo. I need to see the stars. I want to know what Bays means when he tells me stories."

Jo squeezed back. "I'll figure something out. You'll see them," she answered gently. She paused and pulled away a bit, "Did Spot tell you to ask me about the stars? Because its romantic and silly and only I would know anything about that?" Elvie tried to contain it, but quickly burst into giggles. "Wait till I get my hands on that idiotic, rat-faced baboon!"

Laughing, Elvie felt right and she knew she was almost ready to face home, to face love again. The wagon jolted as it rolled over a rock, bouncing the two women in their seats, and as Elvie's backside landed back on the seat, she felt the first faint flutter of movement inside of her. Her baby was ready to go home as well.

A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I have a sick fascination with giving Spot Conlon a massive case of PTSD, but more than that, Spot's struggle helped Elvie process her own. Mental Illness is nothing to be ashamed of and hide, talking about it and sharing your struggle will not only help you, it helps others know they are not alone. Stop the stigma.


	25. Chapter 25

In and out she pushed the needle in tiny precise stitches, quilting three layers of gauzey soft muslin with creamy thread. The blue thread that she bought at the store sat in her lap, waiting for its time and place. Elvie's friends sat around her, each working on her own stitching while they talked and laughed. "How is it that I always end up outnumbered by boys with a pile of mending next to me that's as big as I am?" Marta grumbled as she patched the knees of Jesse's trousers.

"As if you'd have it any other way," Darcy chided before letting out an exasperated huff. For years, Marta had been trying to teach her to knit, but Darcy didn't grow up learning domestic arts and crafts and wasn't particularly disposed to the task. The mangled pair of mittens in her hands had twice as many stitches pulled out of it as she put in. JoAnna chuckled giddily and wiggled in her seat, as if Darcy told a fantastically funny joke. For some reason that day, she was as restless and excited as a puppy. She could hardly concentrate on the embroidery hoop that she was careful to keep tight to her breast. Darcy's scrutiny of her friend was heavy in the air for a moment before she turned her attention to Elvie. "What's the blue for?" she asked gruffly, throwing her yarn to the side. Her knitting needles clattered against the floorboards and rolled away.

"The blue will have it's time," she answered evenly. "Jo needs to show me the stars before that happens." Jo wriggled in her seat again, practically squeaking with excitement.

"What are you up to?" Darcy demanded, making Jo giggle even more giddily. "That better not be what I think it is JoAnna Cooper!" the more petite of the two warned. She stalked across the room, her child sized boots stamping loudly as if they were the size of her personality's feet. "Damnit JoAnna! I told you to knock this shit off! Clairey can read now! Before it was just pretty flowers and she loved it, but now she knows what they say and asks me about it! The poor kid is going to get kicked out of school the first day she goes because she's gonna cuss the teacher out and not even know it!"

Jo giggled maniacally and Marta chuckled in her rocking chair to Elvie's right. Elvie set her fabric in her lap and leaned over. "What's going on?" she whispered, letting Jo and Darcy continue their squabbling.

Marta leaned in, the violet and sandalwood scent of the oil she used to try to manage her lofty mane of curls wrapping around Elvie like a hug. She hoped she would always remember the smell and who it belonged to. Roses would always make her think of JoAnna and sandalwood and violets would always feel safe like Marta's watchful eyes on her. She wished she had those cues for her mother. "JoAnna makes the most beautiful embroidery…but she likes to stitch dirty words in them. For some reason, it makes her so happy, especially when they're insulting Spot. She frames them and sneaks into Spot and Darcy's house to hang them."

Elvie chuckled. JoAnna and Spot acted like she and Doug did in their younger days, siblings whose favorite activity is driving each other nuts. "What does it say?"

Marta leaned around to sneak a peek at JoAnna's fabric and came back laughing heartily. "'Shove it up your ass, Conlon,' surrounded by fairies and pussy willow," she choked out between peels of laughter. "Its an excellent use of her not so very useful rich girl finishing school skills."

Their laughter was interrupted by a set of thick knuckles rapping on the door frame. That was Eli, not the dense taps of Spot's long pianist fingers, nor Fletchers that were so covered in calluses that the sound was dull and muffled. Eli's was loud even though he didn't tap hard, though the squeal from Jo didn't hurt Elvie's assessment. JoAnna jumped out of her seat and scampered across the floor, rushing past her husband. "Wwwe nnnnneed a few mmmminutes," he said cryptically. "Eh-eh-elvie, Ssssspot's g-g-g-gonna tt-t-take you for a wwwwwalk." Confused, she kept working, but heard his chuckle at the look on her face and came closer kneeling by her chair. Neither one of them could stand the constant interpreting for very long after those early days, and together they'd come up with a system that worked for them, at least for short simple communications. His rough, work worn left hand grasped her's and placed it on his jaw, just in front of his ear. "'Sokay. D-d-don't worry."

"I don't like surprises," she answered tightly. He took her hand, tapping the tips of her fingers to his temple, using her hand to sign, 'I know,' and then tapping it to his chin and making the back of her hand clap with his right hand before returning it to his jaw. "It's a good surprise?" He nodded. "No jumping out and yelling." He laughed again and used her hand to draw an x over his heart. He left and before she was really ready, Spot and Fletcher were telling her to come with them, but to leave her cane under her chair. They started to lead her by the hands through the room at such a fast pace that she couldn't count steps. She tripped over the rugs, but they held both of her arms and kept her from falling, though it did nothing to soothe her. "Stop!" she demanded once she was thoroughly lost and disoriented. She dug her heels in against the floorboards, trying to slow them down even if she couldn't stop them. "I don't like this! Let me go!" The panic that she knew so well was nipping at her heels, but she was determined not to let it take her. The men touching her meant her no harm, she knew that. "Please!" The squeal of desperations rose in her voice and finally Spot stopped.

"We's just going to the barn. Trout said he warned ya," Spot said.

She tried to yank her hands away, knowing that if they let her go, she could recover even though she was disoriented. "I can get to the barn myself… or at least I could have from where I was sitting!" she answered testily. "Give me my cane! I don't know where I am when you tow me around like that!"

Spot made a disgusted noise in his throat, but didn't release her, instead, his grip only tightened. "You are the most stubborn, thick headed piece of work I ever met in my life!" he griped. She yanked hard against him and he loosened his hand, but still refused to let her go. "You think I'd hurt ya? Or take ya somewhere's besides where I said I would?"

"That's not the point!" she answered, stamping her foot, accidentally right on his toes. He groaned and finally let go of her arm. "I don't know where I am, so no, I can't trust where I'm going. You took that away! You made me leave my cane and insisted on yanking me around like a dog on a lead! I don't want to go anywhere with you! I don't want a surprise!"

Fletcher let her go, but his callused hand rested on her back, rubbing steadily back and forth across her shoulder blades. The sensation, that she had begun to like under normal circumstances, was grating and harsh in the state she was in and she wanted to pull away. There was already too much to deal with, she couldn't deal with that strange tingling. "Jo asked us to bring you in as if you were blindfolded, but if we need to let up…"

"Don't you ever think of no one but you?" Spot demanded, interrupting Fletcher's apology. She froze. She would never admit it, and neither would he, but Spot was her favorite person at the Ranch. He was truthful, painfully so at times, and funny in his own dry, witty way, but that didn't make hearing the things about herself from him any easier. This though. This, he was just wrong about. He didn't know her at all. She'd given up any hope of a real life, a selfish life, when she was eleven years old and assumed the role of parent to her siblings. She gave them everything she had until there was nothing left for her. "Wipe that look offa ya face! Yeah, ya had a bum wrap in life, boo hoo. Who ain't? Alla us got our sob story, but we put each other first. You can cry in ya head about everything you gave up and sell yaself that crock of shit all ya want, but who put you there? Huh? You. Who kept you where you was? You."

"Spot!" Fletcher scolded, his hand leaving her back.

Spot's breath drew in as he prepared for his next tirade, but she put her hand up. She'd heard that before and she could cry from how much she missed Beth. The blind beauty from the Bronx had snapped something similar at her both the first time they met and the last time they were together. It was just the kick she needed to remind her of the kind of thinking that got her to where she was when she left New York. She refused to take that step back towards living alone in her apartment, being completely perfect, but only within her own tiny microcosm. So, she put her hand out, just one of them, and when Spot's elbow filled it, she dug the tips of her fingers in hard. "You get to decide how you walk and you will give me that same respect," she demanded. "My whole life is blindfolded…it loses the romance pretty quick."

He forced out a pained chuckle as he pried her fingers open. "Deal. But you gotta act surprised. I ain't seen Jo this excited since we was kids."

"Keep talking like that and people will think you actually like her," she teased.

Inside the barn, the excited breathing and hushed murmurs would have given them all away if she didn't already know that they were waiting for her. "Hands out," Spot directed. She reached her hands out and felt JoAnna guiding her forward until the satin soft slip of well sanded wood spread under her fingers. JoAnna gently guided her hand along until her fingers dipped into a smooth channel.

Following the groove, she could form a picture in her head. "Its…a lion?"

"Leo!" Jo squealed joyously, moving Elvie's fingers until they found a knot of leather shoelace. Fletcher had drilled holes in the boards and they'd strung and knotted the lacing so she could trace the actual pattern of the stars while Eli had taken pictures from one of Jo's books and used a heated rod to burn the pictures of the characters around the star patterns. Each knot was a star, connected to the others in the constellation, sticking out for her and each picture was sunk in behind it. Jo was prattling on about the names of the stars that made up Leo, but Elvie wasn't listening anymore. She moved in closer, her fingers devoured the pictures. She moved from board to board, suddenly understanding all the stories that were nothing more than that before. She leaned in, resting her cheek on the silky wood, and let out something that was a mix of laugh and sob. Hot tears poured down her face.

Spot's hand rested on her shoulder. "You ok?"

She stood back up, a smile stretching across her face. "Jo," she whispered, sniffling, "I see them." He hands couldn't stop. She had to "see" all of them. Every star, every path, every picture. She had to touch them all. "What is this one?"

"The big dipper," Jo answered eagerly. "Also known as Ursa Major, the great bear."

Elvie froze, tracing over the sunken drawing with her middle finger. "The bears have tails," she murmured, thinking back to Bays on their first night together and the story he told her. The bears with tails, but he didn't know why.

"It's fascinating isn't it?" Jo asked, her voice picking up speed as she began an oration. "The reigning theory is that…"

"No one cares, Jo," Spot blurted out boredly.

"I care," Elvie whispered, still unable to stop exploring. "Please tell me. I want to tell him why the bears have tails."

Marta's rough finger's brushed against her cheek before Jo could begin again, wiping away the tears that were still falling. "Whatsamattah, Elvie? Are these good tears or sad ones?"

When she first arrived, she had herself convinced that she missed the idea of Bays. She thought her guilt was was eating away at her, but that she'd have to get over him, there was no way he'd want her when she returned. But the more she was around the family at The Fletcher's, the more she understood the feelings that each of the couples had for each other even though each expressed them different ways, she began to realize how deeply she missed him and how much she really loved him. His absence was a cavern in her heart that she felt and grieved as much as she grieved her mother. "I think I need to go home," she answered. "I want to finish the blanket, because once I start working I won't have time to finish it, but after that, I want to go home. I miss him. I thought I needed to see the stars for him," she paused, realizing that what she was about to say sounded ungrateful. "The stars you all made me are wonderful, please don't get me wrong, now I can do what I want with the blanket, but I already knew what they looked like to him. He showed me the stars months and months ago and I was too silly and set in my ways to understand that I could see them through his eyes and that could be enough." JoAnna sniffled and shuffled her feet to muffle her sentimental tears in Eli's broad chest.

Marta's voice came out choked as well. "If you say it's time, then we'll get you to the train station whenever you're ready. You just let us know." She paused and Spot sniggered at her. Marta took a swat at him and he cried out in objection. "We'll miss you, though. You come back and see us whenever you want."

"Buncha saps," Spot gritted, but his voice broke at the last minute and Elvie laughed until the little life inside of her kicked and fluttered.

Two weeks later, Eli took her to the train station at her request. Fletcher had made a crate for her star charts to travel in and Marta had opened the seams in all of her dresses to give her a bit more room to grow. Eli pulled the horses to a stop, but sat still next to her on the bench. He'd been quiet, even for him, the whole drive. "I d-don't like you g-g-g-going on the t-t-t-t-t….t-t-tr-train alone." He finally said.

She chuckled. "I got here alone and I'm much better equipped for the train now. I'm sure I'll be all right. I'm a big girl." He grumbled out his displeasure and it made the last piece of business she needed to take care of before he left weigh on her mind. "Eli, what if me doesn't want me? What if he doesn't want her?"

He was silent a moment and she could almost feel his eyes drilling into her, aggravated at the thought. "Then you c-c-come back," he answered matter-of-factly. "C-come hhhhome."

She reached her hand out and he put it on the curve of his jaw. "If he doesn't want me, I guess I'll have deserved it. I'll see if Nina or Beth or even Mrs. Fredericks can find me a room to rent somewhere and he and I will have to find some way to both be in the baby's life. But…" she faltered. She knew what she wanted to say, what she felt she had to say, but it was still the hardest thing she'd ever said to anyone. "If he doesn't want either of us, I'd like to come back here." He nodded, thinking he was agreeing to her coming home. "Just till the baby comes. Darcy and Marta can help me." She slid her hand down his neck, over his shoulder and down his lame arm, picking it up and resting it on the swell of her belly. "If that happens I want her to stay here with you and JoAnna when I go back to New York again. I want her to be yours." He was silent and so still, as if he was thinking so hard that nothing else in his body worked.

"You….you…c-c-c-coo…." He grunted in frustration. Her request had him flummoxed.

"I could stay here, raise her alone with your help instead?" He nodded. "I could, but when I found out about her, I made her a promise. I wanted her to know what it was like to have a real family, with both parents loving each other and her. I came here because I was the one who couldn't give myself fully, but I might have made it so he can't be there with me. Spot's right, I'm terribly selfish." She put her hand over his on her stomach. "But you and JoAnna are always there for Rosie and always there for each other. She would be incredibly lucky to have you two as her parents. You don't get much more invested in your kids than threatening a blind woman for them." She grinned, but he didn't respond.

"Jo…."

"I didn't tell her," she assured him and he sighed in relief. "I didn't want to get her hopes up only to break her heart, but I didn't want you to think that I was rushing into giving the baby up. I've been trying to decide what to do for weeks. It's not a decision I could make heartbroken, I had to have a plan now. Will you take her if I need you to?" He didn't answer at first, but then his thick, weighty arms wrapped around her and pulled her into the wall of his chest. "Whoa," she grunted, patting his broad back awkwardly. He touched her hand to his chin, signing "thank you." She smiled sadly. "I should be thanking you. You just gave me peace. Now I know what to do, no matter what Bays does. Now, I can face him." She waited, but he didn't let her go. She patted his back again. "Come on, Big Guy, time to get me on a train." He sat up and sniffled, running his arm across his wet face like a child, still overcome with the incredible gift she just offered him. An hour later, the train pulled away from Elbert Station with Elvie on it, steaming eastbound.

A/N: Big news! I applied and was accepted to write on Radish Fiction! My original story "Choose to Live" is up on the app and updates every Friday! I'm like a real writer now! But don't worry, I'll still be around here finishing things up! I can't quit Newsies! Please check it out though! Every view and like boosts me up to get more visibility and every little bit helps!


	26. Chapter 26

Skittery paced the workshop, tugging at and digging his hand into his hair so violently that the tie holding it back snapped, releasing the unruly mass into his face. It hadn't been cut since a few weeks before he got fired from the Ben and now fell around his shoulders when it wasn't tied back. A few weeks worth of scruff covered his chin and upper lip as well. He wasn't the same man who David fired, nor the one who worked in the tunnels. Albert Bayarri, of Bayarri Brothers Furniture, was a new man. Everything seemed to be going so well. He should have known it was all too good to be true. "Tell me again, Aide. When _exactly_ did you see him last?"

She took a deep breath, looking so sad and contrite. "You were at the hotel Monday night. Joe and I met at Sarah's for supper and then came home and went to bed. He wasn't here when I woke up...but he's never here when I wake up. The bell rings three hours before I have to get up to go to Mrs. Frederick's. When he didn't show for supper yesterday, I just figured he was still selling!" Her lip trembled. "I fell asleep..."

Skits grabbed her and pulled her close. "It ain't your fault," he soothed, rubbing her back. "Joe's been headed down the wrong path for awhile now. Since...". He couldn't finish that thought. Not aloud. Not when Joey hadn't been heard from in two days.

But Aide could. "Since Elvie left."

He sighed heavily, searching for the right thing to do. It WASN'T Adrienne's fault. It wasn't even Joe's. They didn't know any different. They'd been spread out over Manhattan for the sake of making ends meet for as long as either of them could remember. They were used to going days without seeing each other, and Elvie was always there to keep tabs on everyone, sitting in her corner of the tiny basement apartment. But Skittery couldn't do that. He needed human interaction, and his new business depended on him going to businesses and homes to measure and consult with his clientele. He didn't have the luxury of locking himself away like Elvie did and he never thought to make sure the kids were checking in. He never had anyone but Andy to check in with as a newsie. He should have, he realized two days too late, after the first time Doug hauled Joey home in the middle of the night. "You did the best you could," he assured her. "Auggie went to check with Doug and then round the boys from the Ben up. You go next door and let Sarah know what's going on and then find Jabber. I'd bet my big toe he knows something and if we feed him, he'll blab." She started towards the door, but turned back, burying herself in his embrace. "Hey, what is this?" he asked, patting her curly head. "What happened to Miss Tough Girl, huh?"

She loosened her grip, but didn't pull away. "You're here. I don't have to be that girl. When it was just us and Elvie, someone had to be tough, but you changed that." She sniffled, pressing her face into his stomach. "I'm glad you're here." She pulled away and ran out the door before he could say anything.

Once the door closed, he sighed, shoving his hair back. "I dunno why. He wouldn't be gone if it wasn't for me." From the moment Elvie left, Joe was a mess. He was sure that she wouldn't leave on her own and determined to find her. No one could convince him otherwise. It only got worse when Skittery moved them all to the apartment above the workshop. Just like he couldn't lock himself away, he couldn't stay and continue to mourn the life Elvie never had in that basement apartment. Some days, the days when he felt angry and bitter, he told himself it was because she wasn't coming back anyway. He and the kids needed to make a new life. Other days, the sadder but more truthful ones, he knew that he just wanted a home for her to come back to. He wanted Elvie to have a safe, happy home that didn't hold all the memories of her parents, or Doug, or the abuse and hardship she suffered. He wanted, more than anything, to give Elvie a home where she could feel content enough to stay, and to let him stay too. He wanted a home she'd never want to run from.

Everyone, all of the boys from the Ben, Andy and a few of the older newsboys who Skits had hired on part time as apprentices in the workshop, as well as Jack, Brendon and a few of the girls were huddled in the workshop a few hours later to comb the city for any sign of Joey Gamble. Sarah had Jabber next door and was feeding him cake and buttering him up, trying to get any details he might know out of Joey's closest friend. The only noticeable absentee was Carlos. Jack said the skip trace sent him along, but had another engagement to see to. That burned Skittery to no end. Elvie left with his help and he couldn't be bothered to help deal with the consequences? It was bull shit.

They all filed out into the dark streets with lanterns in hand, ready to search all night if they needed to. Skittery was the last one, he was just about to tack a note, just in case Joey came home, on the door, but Nina's long, elegant fingers wrapped around his arm. "Wait, my friend," she purred. She easily pulled him back inside.

"Neen, I can't be the only one not looking. He's my responsibility!"

She held him close like she did David, or Natalia or even Elvie when she was feeling protective and led him over to his own desk, forcing him down into the chair a little more roughly than she needed to. He couldn't help the small smile when the chair didn't give the slightest wobble or squeak as it took his weight. It was solid. He might be a shit guardian and a genuinely lackluster human being, but he could build a solid chair, so that was something he had going for him. "The others will be fine without us for a little while. David knows where we are and that we will catch up." She smoothed his shirt over his shoulders and swept to the other side of the desk to sit there, pulling a green cardboard file folder out from under the piles of saw dust and invoicing paperwork. It was dusty. He hadn't touched it since the day David gave it and the workshop they sat in to him. It would nag at him from where he buried it from time to time, but all the work that had started rolling in was keeping him busy enough that he was easily able to ignore it, but Nina wasn't going to let that go on anymore. "You have other obstacles to face before you get too wrapped up in this one."

He slouched down, scoffing. He might not know what was in that file, but he knew he didn't really want to know. He was content being blissfuly ignorant of what really happened. It was easier to think that they just didn't want him and Andy and took off without a trace. That's just the sort of person he was, people left him. His folks, his sisters, Elvie….he was just the kind of guy that you trust with the people you don't want to be responsible for anymore and then leave. "There is a kid out there, Nina. A ten year old kid who needs help. Seeing whatever dirt Fuentes dug up on me isn't going to help him." He bent over, cradling his head in his hands and resting his elbows on his knees. "He's out there alone, looking for someone who don't want to be found because I'm too big of an idiot to see that he needed more than a warm bed and a full belly, just like I was too stupid to see that Elvie didn't want none of this. I thought she was happy! I thought we were happy! How was I supposed to know that she wasn't when she kept saying she was?"

She rested her hand on his back, rubbing back and forth soothingly across his broad shoulders. "This is what I mean, Dorogoy. You need to sort this all out so you can think well enough to even look for the little one." He sat up, digging his fist into his eyes like a child as she opened the folder, spread it across their laps and began to read. "Alberto and Irene Bayarri of 4250 Halston had five children. Albert…"

"Alessandra, Adelina, Amelia and Andrew. He was Italian, fresh off the boat as a young guy and met her. Her family was from the country." He could see each of his sisters' faces as he said the names. He could hear each voice and smell his mother's soap. "I know their names. They're my family."

Nina took his hand and a deep breath. "Patience, Bratishka, patience. I'm going to read all of it. You know the beginning; I don't think you've been willing to hear the end." The sadness in her voice gave her somber accent more weight. "Alberto was a master carpenter at Herter Brothers Fine Furnishings…" He chuckled darkly. He must have known that name somewhere in the back of his brain, but he hadn't meant to name his company so similarly. Nina continued, "he was responsible for their most beautiful and detailed work, the kind of beauty that made their name for them, but he had a temper that made him hard to work with." Skittery snorted at the understatement. "He tried many times to go out on his own, but always ended up back at Herter because they were the only ones willing to take on his temper in exchange for his body of work." She took a deep breath, her fine, pale skin turning grey as she swallowed. "The neighbors started to notice the mother sending the kids off to work and live different places. Albert went first, in 1894, then Alessandra in 1895 and Amelia went with her in 1896. Adalina was sent off a few times, but she was sickly and always ended up back at home within a few days." Skittery covered his face again. Adalina was always sick, something in her chest that made it hard to catch her breath. Even climbing the stairs up to the apartment would sometimes make her too tired to do much the rest of the day. "His temper and outbursts were getting worse and worse. Irene was seen bloodied and bruised, but she always denied that anything was wrong. Until, in April of 1898, one of the neighbors went to check on her after not seeing her for a few days and found Amelia and Louise murdered in their home. Alberto was arrested and then committed not long after."

He couldn't breathe. April 1898. His mother sent Andy with him that March. "She knew," he wheezed. "She saw it coming and got rid of all of us to keep us safe." He was on his feet, tearing at his hair again. "She should have let me help! I knew he was…like that, I coulda protected her! I was bigger than her! I could take it, she couldn't!"

Nina smiled up at him sadly, her oceanic eyes welled with tears. "You were a child, Albert, her child. You were her responsibility."

"And instead of taking care of us she dumped us out on the streets, one by one, so she could deal with that monster she married alone." He growled at the air in frustration. "Why does everyone I love think they can do everything alone? I can help! I coulda helped her, I coulda help Elvie! But everyone's always pushing me away!" She stood and pulled him down until his head rested on her shoulder. Even though he never felt anything but sibling-like affection for her, it felt so good to just be held and comforted. "Tell me what to do, Neen," he mumbled into her shoulder. "Tell me how to fix it like you do when Davey's being a putz."

She chuckled and crooned a few soothing words he didn't understand in Russian into his ear. "I'm sorry, Bratishka, but this is not business, not the hotel and not The Russian Ballet. This is just life. It will never be perfect, no matter how hard you try to be, no matter how much you figure out the rules and abide by them. This dance has no director, no choreographer, the music is in control. You must move the way it makes you feel you should move."

He pulled away and stared at her for a moment before a shadow of his normal, cocky grin spread across his distressed face. "I know you's trying to tell me something important, Nina, but…uhhhh…..I ain't no dancer. Pretend you's talking to someone who only went to school till they was eleven and try again."

She laughed and patted his cheek a little harder than an affectionate tap. "Doorak, follow your heart! Your head is good for business, but you will only find Joey and bring Elvie home when you stop trying to be so perfect all the time. They don't want perfect, and perfect wouldn't have made your mother keep you. She sent you out to protect you. She knew you were strong enough to be trusted with her greatest treasure. Her last baby. Elvie knew you would take care of her siblings because she saw the man you are. You must stop beating yourself up this way. No one left because they wanted to. They left to protect the things they loved most."

He sniffled and swiped the moisture from his face. "Did he find my sisters?"

She grinned brilliantly. "He did. And they are not far, but they are safe. We can go after Joey is too. Now, where would he go to look for Elvie?"

Skittery thought hard. "I gotta get to The Ben. Doug knows more than he's letting on." They raced across town in the hotel carriage only to find Doug's room ransacked but empty. He was about to leave when his eyes fell on something familiar but out of place. A wooden walking stick, covered in carvings of lace and raspberry. The head was worn and dirty from use, but warm in his fingers. "Elvie," he whispered, holding it. He turned to Nina, his eyes hard, "Wherever Joey is, he's with Doug and Elvie. We need to find Jack."

A/N: sorry for the long delay! Getting my other book off the ground and keeping up with a strict posting schedule proved difficult. Well, that and Skits wasn't ready to be productive. He just wasn't cooperative so I let him fall by the wayside a bit. But here he his! Anyway, we're coming down to the final handful of chapters! I hope you enjoy!


	27. Chapter 27

Elvie and the train conductor had struck up a strange friendship over the course of the journey. He took to her and seemed set on making sure that she was well cared for, even if his slight disproval that anyone would allow her to travel alone in both of her conditions was tiresome. It was also endearing that someone besides Eli was that worried about her traveling alone. Eli worried about everything. She chuckled to herself at the memory of him not wanting to hand her things over to the porter unless he promised that they would be put back in her hands when she reached New York. Her conductor made sure that her things were taken to be delivered to The Benjamin. It was the only place she could think to send them since she wasn't sure where home would be or even how long she would be in the only city she ever knew as her home. "Who was it that was coming to pick you up, Miss Elvie?" The old man asked, patting her hand as he led her through the aisle and helped her down to the platform.

It was dark out already, the electric lights in the station filling her limited vision with orbs of golden light that flickered as people moved in front of the bulbs. He blustered and stammered a bit and she smiled at his struggle. "I can tell you what he looks like," she offered. "I imagine that would be helpful." No bitterness made its way into her tone, because she didn't feel it. He let out a sigh of relief at her suggestion and she nodded. "Mr. Fuentes is tall, but not so tall as my friend who got me to the train in Colorado. He has dark, straight hair and tanned skin. He's Spanish but he has blue eyes. He will likely have a sour face on like he just stepped in horse shit, because he's just a big grump." Again, her companion sputtered at her foul language, but she offered no apology. She was far more brave than proper and it felt good.

"Chiquita?" a deep accented voice called, using his strange nickname from their past to let her know it was him, but it didn't just do that. A small pang of that old, deeply ingrained fear ran through her at the sound of his voice. She forced herself to breathe deeply and felt the wool of the conductor's coat under her fingers. There was no train conductor back then. There was no well cared for, wool coat to hold and with that knowledge, the air was able to break through the fear. She could see back then and she walked on that boy's arm because she relished the attention he paid her, not because she needed him. The voice and the body were the same, but Carlos was not Tomas, who led her to be bait. Carlos came to meet her at the station because she telegraphed ahead and asked him to. "Everything all right, Elvie?" he asked cautiously, seeming to recognize the visceral reaction she had to his voice still. His concern ran deep and he had to shuffle his feet against the marble floors of the station to keep himself from reaching out to touch her arm before she was ready.

She smiled shakily. "I'm all right," she assured him and held her hand out to prove it to him. He let her say her thanks and farewells to the conductor and then began to walk with her out of the station. He was tense, his arm muscle was tightly wound and his mind was elsewhere as they walked. Never being one for idle chatter, she let him have his silence for a few blocks until it was obvious to her that she was the source of his hesitance. "Is Sophie all right? And the baby?" she asked tentatively. He hummed and answer and kept up his stony silence. "What is it? Something is off about you, I can feel it."

He hmphed quietly, "Just another day in New York, nothing changes."

She smiled sadly, "Everything changes."

"You have," he retorted. "Congratulations." Despite the two thoughts being delivered together, he wasn't talking about her sizable midsection when he spoke of her changing.

She grinned, "Carlos Fuentes, how about we stop playing this little game where we each pretend the other is stupid, shall we? You knew I was pregnant when I sat down in your office that day and I know, for a fact, that something is wrong that is not just 'New York.' Now spill."

He stopped his brisk pace chuckled deep in his throat. "This is the girl that I took for a soda," he said with admiration. "I thought I was the smartest thing to come outta Brooklyn, but you kept me on my toes, quip for quip." He sighed and fidgeted, trying to decide what to tell her. "Your Bays and the boys from the Ben are out in the streets right now searching for your brother. He ain't been home in a few nights."

She snorted. "Figures he let Doug back in. He'll come home when the money runs out. He always does."

"Not Doug. The little kid. Joey."

The words hit her like a punch to the gut. "What?" She whispered. The old panic was trying to smother her. Her fingertips dug into Carlos' arm as she floundered for some sense of what to do. Her brain was in overdrive, wheels spinning wildly as she battled within to either find a dark safe space to to board herself in or barrel down the streets blind, screaming her baby brother's name.

"Elvie," Carlos said, cutting through the whirlwind. Yet again, it was Tomas voice too and the small amount of air remain in her lungs left in a rush. She couldn't get it back in. "Elvie, Bays isn't home. I'm taking you to Race and Clara's."

She could focus on that. She didn't know Race and Clara when he was Tomas. He was Carlos now and Carlos sent her to the kindest people she'd ever met. Tomas was gone and never meant to hurt her. She sucked in a shaking breath and steadied herself on his arm. "Tell me what you know. I want every detail, please."

"You need to rest. I'll go join the search. We'll have him home by morning."

She shook her head. "Tell me. I'm not going anywhere until you do." She planted her feet staunchly at squared her jaw. "You know better than to test me."

He sighed and started to move, but she pulled back. She meant it, she wasn't going anywhere until he talked. "It would make me feel better if you sat while you listen," he explained through gritted teeth, annoyed that he didn't have the upper hand. She grudgingly allowed him to lead her to a bench and listened expectantly while he told her everything he knew about Joey's behavior and disappearances since she left. "Bays even told him that I knew where you were, that I sent you away somewhere, but the kid wouldn't listen. He's hard headed….wonder where he got that from?"

She might have been able to laugh at his attempt at humor if it hadn't been for the sentence that preceded it. "You told Bays where I was?"

"No," he admitted. "He took one look at me and knew. I just didn't deny it." He sighed and his palm dragged against another piece of his skin. "I sent Jack in my place, but this is my area of expertise. I will find him. Please, you can go sit with Clara or with Sophie and my little Carmen, but you need rest."

She bristled at the patronizing tone. "Stop fussing at me and take me to Doug," she demanded, standing and holding her hand out to him. He didn't get up. Though she couldn't see his blue eyes staring at her, they were lost in the growing darkness, she could feel his scrutinizing gaze on her skin.

"Doug has cleaned up." Carlos insisted, sounding annoyed. "Auggie came to get me after letting him know. Doug doesn't know where Joe is."

Carlos might trust that, but Elvie didn't. Doug learned from the best how to be addicted to the games. He needed that and she knew firsthand how hard it was to break from the mindset of her father. She shook her head and reached down until she found his coat sleeve, pulling as hard as she could. "Unless Doug joined the search party, I need to talk to him myself." The skip trace-turned-private eye stilled and that alone gave her the answer she needed. Doug didn't join the search party. He was in his room at the Ben panicking over what he knew and wondering if his problems got his brother into trouble. "You've gone soft on me, Fuentes," she said, smirking sadly. "What big brother wouldn't drop whatever they were doing to find their younger brother? Either one that didn't care or one that was in trouble and got the little brother involved. Doug is many bad things, but uncaring isn't one of them. Please take me to the Benjamin."

He sputtered and cussed in Spanish. "Bays said…"

She shook her head and laughed a bit cruelly. "That's the thing about my Bays. He trusts people he shouldn't. He puts up this big front with all his jokes and naysaying and tries to keep them from knowing the real him, but the problem is that he still hangs onto every little bit of good they give him and believes in it with his whole heart. He is clinging to the hope that my brother is reformed, just like you are. But you and I, we know better. We can put different labels on ourselves and try to see the rosy side of things, but the truth is just as cruel either way. You know that this doesn't add up just as well as I do, and you told me that Doug dragged him home from a bad part of town. What was Doug doing there to be able to find Joey? Huh? My brother is not reformed anymore than you are not still a cut throat skip trace or I am fixed and undamaged. He is at the hotel, about to shit himself for not setting Joe straight back when Joe still had an ounce of respect for him and he will lead us to where Joe is because the only thing that made me weaker than him was my fear of you." She rolled her shoulders back and held her head high. "But you're on my side now, so I have nothing to fear. Are you taking me to the hotel or am I going alone?"

Carlos stood up and his eyes raked over her. "You drive a hard bargain, Ace," he said, and she couldn't help but think he sounded proud. He put her hand in the crook of his elbow and started walking, muttering under his breath in Spanish. She was just about to ask what me was complaining about when he switched to English and in a high pitched saucy voice said, "You'll never take me anywhere, Mr Fuentes!" imitating her the day that Bays took her to really meet him for the first time. "Yet here we are with you dragging my happy ass all over New York. Hypocrite."

"Maybe go back to Spanish," she replied dryly, but smiled a hardened smile when he chuckled.

Getting in was hard, the contents of the small room seemed to all be on the floor. She sat on the narrow bed in the room that Carlos walked her to. Third door on the left in the staff hallway. It was Bays' old room. Even though she was surrounded by her brother's scent and voice, she found herself seeking any trace of Bays left in the room. She wasn't ready to face him, but being confronted by this connection to him made her ache to be held and to relieve herself of the secret of their child. She wanted him to hold her and kiss her and tell her that she was forgiven for being such a mess, but her more logical side reminded her that it wasn't a likely ending. After watching them enter his space silently, Doug barked, "Where are your glasses? You just gonna stumble around blind now?"

"Broken and yes," she answered calmly. "I don't see why you're so bothered by it, you always liked me like this before. It made it so I couldn't call you on your shit as easily. Where is my brother?"

He scoffed, but his nervous movement told her many things. " _Our_ brother," he needled back. "If you wanted to make sure he stayed under your thumb maybe you shoulda stuck around."

She laughed. The low blow was meant to chastise her, but she knew he was hiding something. He wouldn't bother with trying to insult her if he was innocent. Her laughter unnerved him and he fell silent. "Where is Joey, Doug?" Her refusal to fold scared him, she could hear his breathing catch, letting all of his tells out. He really was terrible at him and she found herself amazed that he didn't lose more often. "Take me to him."

"I can't," he answered, his voice cracking with pain. "It ain't safe. It's bad enough that he's there, I won't put you in danger too. You…you're…"

She rolled her eyes, "Pregnant? Blind? What Doug? Spit it out!"

"MY SISTER!" he cried. "I wouldn't want you going there even if you weren't those other things! There's guys there, guys like the ones who paid Carlos. Like the ones that hurt you."

She smiled sadly, holding her hand out to him. "You should know by now, after being locked in with me for days at a time, that I would do anything to keep you and the others safe. You know that right? My eyes, my baby, nothing is going to keep me from getting Joey back home where he belongs. You guys come first. Just like always. Family first." His hand filled hers and she squeezed it. "I wasn't here to keep him safe. I need to fix it. Tell me where he is."

Doug's weight pressed down on the mattress beside her and he sat silently with her hand for a moment before answering. "I caught him sneaking around a few card games late at night. I marched him him to Bays, but he just kept sneaking out. He wouldn't listen to anyone."

"Why were you there?" she demanded.

"I don't play!" he insisted. "I just sit and watch and count the cards because it makes working tolerable. I just get so bored with nothing for my mind to do and counting keeps me…coping when I feel like I'm going crazy. I go find a game and I just watch, play along in my head, and watch the player I sit behind. I never pick up the cards and I don't buy in. Every cent I earn that don't feed me, goes to build back up the savings account so that Joe could go back to school." She believed him, though she didn't know why. But he still hadn't told her where Joey was. "He found some crook who keeps stringing him along with useless information, saying their clues to find you. I was finding all of my savings to take to try to get him out of whatever he's gotten himself into."

She chuckled sadly, kicking at some kind of fabric at her feet. "Old habits die hard."

He snorted a bit. "Yeah." He quickly sobered, though. "This guy he thinks is going to get him to you is a bad guy, Elvie. A really bad guy. I tried telling Joey that Hollister was bull shitting him, but he wouldn't listen!"

"Hollister?" Elvie whimpered. Carlos was already moving towards her, she could hear him stepping over and around the debris to get to her, knowing after her earlier episodes that she would need her reassurance of where his loyalties lay. She gripped his sleeve, kneeding the fabric, drawing the mint smell of Sophie's favorite soap into her lungs. He knew, better than anyone else, why that name terrified her.

"Stay with me, Chiquita," Carlos said. "We have to get you back to Bays, requerdes?"

"It's him, right?" she asked. "The one with the whip?" He grunted angrily in affirmation. "We have to get to him, Carlos. He's just a little boy."

"We'll find him, just like I found you. Like you said, I'm on your side this time."

The three of them left the room, but between the mess and her worry, she left her cane next to the door, realizing her mistake only after they stepped out of a taxi in front of a building that smelled sour and smoky.

A/N: It is really freaking hard to not use visual cues in description! Also, I have updated all three of my active stories today and I feel like I deserve a medal…or at least a cookie and an ass pat. Anyway, here we go, diving into the finale! Will they get Joe back? Will Skittery catch up to them or will they return to the store triumphant? We shall see!


	28. Chapter 28

Bays pulled his coat tighter around him as he watched Nina hurry away down the street to find Jack, both of them hoping that maybe Doug had given him some clue as to where he and Elvie might have gone together. He shook off the cold as he stepped into the welcoming warmth of the Harkins home. As always, the smell of bread made him sigh contentedly, despite all his troubles. He wished this problem, like so many others, could be solved with a full stomach, a few good buddies and some laughs... he had to hope those things had at least softened Jabber's resolve to keep Joey's secrets.

Sarah smiled at him softly and sadly as she went to wash up after the curly headed kid resting his head on her table. "Anything?" he asked, but Sarah just shook her head and patted his elbow.

"I'll bring you something..." she started, but sighed when he met eyes with her. He couldn't eat, not now. "Coffee maybe? Warm you up?"

"Sure, Sarah. Thanks." He sat down next to Jabber and cushioned his head with his arm the same way the kid was as he stared off into the empty room. "Hey." He kept his voice soft, warm. Jabber was quiet, which almost never happened, but dragged his eyes back into focus. Bays didn't want to make him feel like he had to rat out his friend, but at the same time wanted to shake the kid until he gave him what he needed to know. Instead he shook himself. He wasn't his father and he would never stoop to that. "Ya know, when I was a newsie, ya didn't snitch on ya buddies. Not for nothin, but one time, right after Jack snuck outta the refuge, he was sleeping in an alley. We all woke up one day and there was a big freeze in the night. Jack told us we wasn't supposed to tell Kloppy. He didn't want no one knowing he was out there, because he didn't want no one official knowing he was out. He wanted to make sure word didn't get back to Snyder. We went out all day, we did what he said to do, but I couldn't keep my big mouth shut while my buddy was freezing. I told Kloppy, but he did me a favor and went out lookin, told Jack and every other kid he found that night that the mayor told him to take them all in. He gave em all beds and coffee from his own stash. Both of us woulda gotten away with it too but Jack caught me buying the old man some coffee and wanted to know why."

Jabber's big blue eyes filled with tears. "Joey ain't like Jack. He's like a little, cranky old man and I ain't no snitch."

"Don't you think he'd rather be found than have you keep a secret that put him in danger?"

"I can't! I swore!" Jabber hurried his face in his arms and all Bays could do was put a hand on the kid's shoulder, because he knew. He knew how Joey was. Joey was stern and serious, truthful to a fault, angry at the world and loyal as they come with a stubborn streak longer than it was wide. Bays knew that because those were all traits the kid shared with Elvie. His heart ached for Jabber and the battle he was fighting with himself because he knew how hard it was to disappoint a person who expected so much of the people they cared for, especially when it meant disappointing them in the name of helping them. The muscles in his neck and shoulders and the ones in his abdomen twisted and tightened at the thought. He had to get through to the kid, he was the only person Joey trusted enough to tell.

They sat together for awhile, just sitting and drinking in the calm quiet of the Harkins' kitchen until a commotion at the street level had them both on their feet. Ed Harkins raised his voice, but the brash, gritty female tone that spat right back had Bays rolling his eyes and groaning. He hadn't taken the time to send for Beth, as focused as he'd been on sending out the search parties, but she obviously still had her eyes out and on him. She barged up the stairs and into the apartment with all of the charm and grace of a stampeding wildebeest. Jabber pressed himself against the wall, shrinking away from her, and once again, Skittery knew how he felt. He knew what it was to be so sure that people would hurt first and ask questions later. The kid was so scared of Beth, that he fell mute.

"Bays!" She snapped, stopping and taking in her surroundings for the first time.

"Right here, Beth, and I know ya ready to take my shins out for not sending for ya, but I needed everyone here looking, not running to the Bronx. No offense, but you ain't much good in a search party." It was a low blow, but she might have just scared any chance he had of getting Jabber to talk away and this night was frustrating enough without her in the mix being haughty and brutal.

Instead of snarling, though, she chuckled warmly. "Ya lucky I like you, Bays. I like ya enough to let that slide and I like ya enough to have Elvie's detail watching out for you. They came for me and I brought more, including boys who got ins that you ain't got. I might not be much for checking alleys, but I got manpower, eyes all over this city and a rep that gets me what I want, and they's all at your disposal. I'd help if it was Elvie who needed me and I'll help just the same now that she's not here. You's good people, Albert Bayarri." Her cane hit his foot a moment before her tiny hand came in contact with his elbow. "So, tell me what we's got to work with." He sighed, pulling away from the comfort of her touch to slug back the scalding coffee Sarah set at his place at the table while Beth's ear scanned the room. "Who else is here? The baker, the wife...who is the kid?"

"That's Jabber." He shot the kid plastered against Sarah's kitchen wall a sharp look. "He was just about to tell me anything Joey mighta told him since they's selling partners and pals."

Her pink mouth twisted into a smirk. "Kid ain't a snitch. Good job, Kid. Sit down, I don't bite." Jabber sidled obediently away from the wall and sat, still watching her mistrustfully. "You can tell me when ya ready. Bays, what do you know?"

He paced and blustered. He wanted to tell her about what he brought back from the hotel with him, but he didn't. He wanted to bear the knowledge that she was back and she didn't come find him first alone. "Last anyone saw him was two nights ago, right here. Aidie and him had dinner together and we ain't seen him since." Beth's head snapped towards Jabber as if she heard some fraction of a sound that he didn't, but he kept going. "Nina and I went to the hotel to talk to Doug..." He didn't want to tell her, but he knew he couldn't keep it from her either. He did the cowardly thing and did both but neither and put Elvie's now well worn cane into her hands.

Her eager fingers traveled quickly, drinking in the details as her face pinched. "This is Elvie's. Where did you get this?"

Bays explained about finding it in Doug's room and how smashed up the place was. Beth hmphed and stuck her cane out, searching for a chair, still holding her friend's close to her body. Jabber surprised them both when he touched her hand and put it on the chair next to his. "I think Carlos is with them," Skittery said once she settled. "I asked him to help search and he sent Jack with some lame excuse...then her cane turns up outta the blue. She's gotta be with him."

Beth shook her head. "She's with someone she trusts. Not with Doug," she said. "She don't put her cane down for just anyone. Honestly, you's the only person she ever said she could trust to walk with that way." Beth struggled to reconcile the thought of Elvie trusting the skiptrace, but couldn't. She turned to Jabber, her milky eyes looking over his head. "Tell me, Kid. Tell me what you remember from what Joey told you." Her voice was gentle, but stern and instead of shrinking away from her, Jabber stood like he might at school to answer a question.

"He found some guy who said he knew where Elvie was, and that it would take time and money to get to her. So he's been doing jobs for this guy, but he told me that the guy said just him. He had to be alone. I saw him yesterday after Aide did, though. We sold together and then he took his money and headed off to meet this guy, said he was supposed to see Elvie last night. I waited outside all night for them to show up at the old apartment because he figured that's where she'd want to go, and we decided it would take both of us to get her here to the new place since she don't like new stuff. But they never showed. I swear that's all I know, your Majesty, Ma'am."

Beth thought quietly and then called out the door. "Bruno, I need ya brains on this."

A kid little older than Doug came in, looking around, sheepish and shifty. "Boss?"

"You heard of a kid hanging around the circuits? Asking about his sister?"

The kid shrugged, "Ain't nothing out of the ordinary, Boss. Someone's sister is always missing."

"What about some guy who might string a kid along, say he knows the kid's sister..."

The change in Bruno's stance was abrupt enough that Beth seemed to hear it. He went from wary and untrusting to coiled like a spring, his mouth curled with disgust. "Hollister. Only guy I know who's that crooked and that lazy. He picks 'em off gets 'em to promise to come back to do stuff for him in return for information to find whoever they's looking for and he reels em in, make them trust him by stringing em along until they'll do anything to get what they think he has. Then, he locks em in a room and either drugs them or lets them get more than a few days hungry so they's desperate and sells em to whoever will pay. Whorehouses, opium dens...and worse..."

"Sells them?" Skittery yelped. "How the hell do you sell a person?!"

Beth's face was stony and downright frightening. "He's been gone two days, we still got a chance that Hollister still has him holed up somewhere. Where does Hollister hang out, Bru?"

"Bowery," Bruno answered. "Boss, you sure you don't wanna get back? I can take him."

"This ain't business, Bru. This is my friend he's messing with, you better believe I'm coming along." She shook off the gruff feelings and turned her body to Skittery. "You got money? We might have to buy him to get him out." Skittery had money, his profit that he was supposed to meet with Dave about to start paying back the investment. If he didn't turn a profit, it was back to the tunnels. If he didn't turn a profit, then Joe might be better off with whoever Hollister sold him to because he'd at least have a place to sleep. His hand trembled as he wrote out the withdrawal like Doug showed him in the lines of the ledger, carefully annotating what it was for. Maybe Dave would give him more time if he saw that the profit was there, but was put to a good cause. He pulled the leather money bag out of the drawer of his desk that locked and stuffed the wad of cash in his pocket. Joey's life was worth the gamble of losing everything.

A/N: Yikes. I never meant to let this lag this far. I am sooo sorry. No promises...since we all know I lie when I comes to chapter counts, word counts and timelines, but I'm going to try to bang these last few chapters out because I hate that I got this so close to the end and left it to sit so long! My poor Newsies!


	29. Chapter 29

Carlos begged Elvie to stay quiet and not butt in once they were inside the strange building and she didn't fight his wishes. She was too afraid, too disadvantaged without her cane or someone she truly trusted to lead her. The tavern or social hall was big and loud. The sound rolled up into the ceiling like in the grand atrium at the hotel, but the Ben was refined and well mannered. This place roared. She longed for the quiet calm of the country as the sounds of men and women gambling, yelling, singing and arguing pounded in on her while the smoke, whiskey, beer and perfume cloud in the place assaulted her nose just as heavily. It was too much. She felt herself shrinking into Doug's side, but couldn't stop it. To make all worse, Carlos put up his armor, and was no longer able to be her ally. He had to be ruthless, gruff and detached. All she had was her sense of touch, and she clung to her little brother wishing she had never left the safety of her basement all those years ago. One sound though, had the power to cut straight through all of that chaos. One child's tiny cry that didn't belong in that house of adult vices.

She knew better than to stumble after a sound that she didn't even trust she didn't imagine. "Doug," she whispered, "did you hear him?" He shushed her, listening intently to Carlos as he tried to get them into the back room where Hollister was holed up. "Doug, Joey is here," she hissed.

"Of course he is," her brother answered. "That's why we are." No one was going to listen to her. Doug's skepticism surrounding her competence was too strong and Carlos was too busy doing exactly what she asked of him and getting nowhere. She needed to get to the owner of that sad little noise.

Neither one of the men, her supposed protectors, noticed when she took a shuffled sidestep away from them, trying to separate the noise from the din of their surroundings. Every step was more confusing than the last with nothing to feel her way with and nothing to validate that she was making progress. She slid her feet forward slowly, letting the sides of them rub against each chair leg, not knowing if she was getting any closer to the crying child.

She would have missed the door, using the chair legs as a guide like she was, if it hadn't opened. Someone brushed past her so closely that the fabric of a sleeve brushed against her nose as he went by in a cloud of rum and cheap pipe tobacco and the stale smell of old age. He leaned heavily on a cane, sounding like a three legged horse as he clattered by, grumbling under his breath. The door swung back and forth in his wake and she listened between the soft whumps of air to the soft whimpers of not just one child, but many.

Past the swinging door was a kitchen to one side and her cautious feet saved her from tumbling down the dark narrow stairwell to the other. Downstairs, the revelry of the people above was muffled, and the sad little cries were more clear. The stench was unbearable. Her shoes were wet and the dank weight of mildew hung heavily in the air. The cries all fell silent. "Hello?" She called out into the unnatural quiet. "Joey? Joey it's Elvie, where are you, Sweetheart?"

A skitter of feet on a bare floor far down the hall was the only answer at first, but Elvie almost had herself convinced it was mice before she heard Joey's voice, harsh and hoarse mutter. "Not real, not real not real."

"Joe, it IS me. I'm here to take you home, but I broke my glasses, so I need you to tell me where you are."

"Not. Real. Not. Real."

She sighed and tentatively reached out to find a cold, damp wall. "It's ok that you think I'm not really here, I wouldn't believe me either after the way I left, but, on the off chance that I am, will you tell me if I need keys to get to you? Is there a door between you and me? If I disappear, you can go back to waiting for Hollister to take you to me, same as you were before."

He seemed to think about that for a moment. "No!" another voice called. It was just as sad, just as hoarse as Joey's. It was closer to her than his, though. She could almost reach out and touch the owner. "You can't leave unless he tells you to! He gets mad! Even if you get away he'll hurt the rest of us!"

"You can hear her?" Joey whispered in awe. She wondered how many times he had dreamed she was back just to wake up to find she wasn't. "The key is up over the door, Elvie! Please! I want to go home!"

She stepped back and reached up over the doorframe to find a key on a nail, but she couldn't quite unhook it. "Joey, can you see me? Is there anything around I can knock it down with?"

"There's hooks on the walls next to you. There's a stick...and other stuff. But the stick will help you." Her fingers felt over the damp stone until they came to the hooks he talked about and found the switch, recognizing it from her short time at school as a child as something used to hurt. She knew she should take the switch and get the key and get her brother out, but her hand kept moving. This was the man who hurt her. The man who ruined her skin and took half of her sight from her. With morbid curiosity she searched the wall filled with things used to punish and humiliate and was rewarded accordingly. Leather and necklace chain brushed her fingers. "Elvie, did you get it?"

She couldn't move. It might not be the same whip that destroyed her life, but it was the same kind, owned by the same man who used it against her to punish her for crimes she didn't commit. Touching those seemingly innocuous fibers, she wondered what these other children around Joey did or didn't do to find themselves there, locked up and too afraid of Hollister to let one another escape. She needed to get them out. All of them. They couldn't stay here with that whip another minute if she could help it.

The locks were heavy and large, each taking all of her strength to turn. It took opening three doors to realize that the children weren't leaving. They stayed huddled in the backs of the small cell-like rooms. "Go!" She hissed at them as she turned the next lock. "Don't you want to go home?"

"You think we want to look like you? Get out of here! Leave us alone! We just want what he promised us!"

"He told Joe he could take him to me, but he couldn't. I was across the country until just tonight." It hit her suddenly that it must be nearly morning by now and that realization made exhaustion hit her hard. She had to get Joe out. She would open the doors for the others; they had to choose to leave. "He lies. Whatever he's promised you is a sham." She clicked the next lock open and waited, hoping one of them would either be Joey or would be brave enough to leave.

"Then why'd he whoop you?"

"My father owed money, and he figured out that my father didn't care about himself. The only way to get to him was through his family. So they took me and did this to me until we came up with the money."

Joey began to cry. He didn't know that's who he'd turned to. She kept moving down the line, one door after another, turning the heavy locks and moving towards the mournful sound of her brother's sobs.

"Friend of yours, Mr. Fuentes?" A voice asked from behind her. She never heard him speak the last time they met, his partner did all the talking, but she knew it was him.

"I'm trying to get to my brother. The others were good and didn't come out when I unlocked their doors," she answered, even though it made her feel sick to do it. "I was just trying to find my brother."

A rough thumb with a long thumbnail dragged down over the lash that blinded her, and she forced herself to remain still, clasping her hands over her round middle. "Chiquita, I asked you to let me handle this," Carlos admonished, as he gave her a gentle tug to his side. "That one. At the end. The one who's crying."

"He's already bought and paid for," Hollister chuckled. "Only way you can have that one is if you can do better than the $80 he already brought in."

"I only got $20," Doug answered meekly. He shifted and she shook her head. She had nothing. Eli and Fletcher made sure she had a few dollars to travel with, but they were mostly gone. The remaining change in her purse wouldn't help and Carlos didn't make that kind of money either. Doug's stance changed. He pulled himself taller and broader, even though he trembled. "What about a trade?"

Hollister laughed aloud until he wheezed. Elvie squeezed her brother's tensed arm. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

"What I shoulda done a long time ago," he answered. "Taking care of you guys instead of myself." He took her hand and held it. "Let me do this, Elvie. You got your own family to look after now."

"I don't understand..."

"I ain't worth much, but I can count the cards, and to a man like him, that's worth something. My skills are worth more than that eighty dollars and if it will get Joe out free and clear so that you can take him home, then I'll do it." He let out a sad snort of laughter. "Shit, I'll be happier with other lowlifes like me than I am at the hotel trying to play it straight, anyway."

Elvie stood there, trying to wrap her brain around her brother's request. As much trouble as he caused, as much like her father as he was and as much as she would always be that little bit mad at him for all the times he'd manipulated her fear to make it so he could keep doing as he pleased, he was her family and family came first for the Gamble kids. She smiled, even though her lip trembled. "Do what has to be done, but Doug, I want Hollister's whip. Those kids wouldn't save themselves. At least get me the whip so I know that he isn't...that he can't...that those kids aren't going to end up..." She ran her fingers down the scars on her forehead and cheek, lingering in the well around her eye.

His hand covered hers and pulled it away. "I'll get it, but you've got to promise to leave me be. No saving me. No sending Carlos or Bays after me. You give me the full Pop treatment, ya got me?"

"I don't think Bays will be very eager to stick his neck out for me after I left like I did, but I promise. Be careful, Doug."

His hand squeezed hers and she was amazed at how big it was. They'd avoided one another for so long that she was almost shocked that his hand felt like the hand of a man, not a boy. "Bays would do just about anything you asked him to, Elvie. He'd find a way to loop a rope around the moon and pull it down for you to feel if you asked him. You just gotta quit being so proud and ask." With that he let go. He challenged Hollister to a game of cards. The stakes were high. Doug had to win to make the trade happen. He had to sell himself as an asset to Hollister's crooked organization. They disappeared into the back room, leaving Carlos and Elvie in the outer salon where the noise was unrelenting to wait for Doug to seal all of their fates.


	30. Chapter 30

Doug didn't look good when Bays, the two Finnegans and Bruno entered the social hall. He was pale, sickly and had bags under his eyes that could carry a weeks worth of papers for any newsie worth his salt as he reached out to shake the hand of some grizzled old buzzard wearing a satisfied smirk on his gnarled old face. Bays plowed past the others, "Don't shake on nothing!" he bellowed, shoving Doug behind him and facing the old crook. "Whatever he promised you, it's off the table. I can pay! Where's Joey?"

"He's safe, Bays," Doug answered in a tired, broken voice. "Carlos is walking down to get him right now. You ain't gotta worry anymore. He won't try nothing like that again."

Bays scoffed. "Getting bought and sold like a pig by the same creep who nearly killed Elvie taught him a lesson! He better not try it again or I'll skin him myself!"

The old man raised a stringy white eyebrow before settling his creaking bones in a chair, but instead of commenting on the past he horked up a ball of phlegm from his throat and spat it on the floor. "Price just went up to ninety. Either pay up or let me settle up with my new sharp," he answered irritably. A girl brought him a drink and he pinched her backside as she walked away.

Ninety was everything Bays had in his pocket. Everything he owed Davey. His thumb flipped the edges of the bills nervously as he thought. "You put that money back in the desk drawer or in Mr. Jacobs pocket where it belongs," Doug warned, quietly. Skits eyes flew up to meet with the younger man's. "The Top right one. With the lock. That's your money for Mr. Jacobs, to pay him back. Last I checked there was eighty seven dollars and ninety two cents in there." He shook his head in shame at the shocked look Bays shot him. "Elvie's right about me. You can't fix me. I'm too messed up for regular work. All I think of all day is how to get to a game, how to get some cards, or some cash. I've picked that lock a dozen times and talked myself outta taking that money just as many times. You be the good guy, Bays. The closest I can get to good is to do the bad stuff I do best but for a good reason. Joey's free and off limits, because of me."

"What did you do?" Bays demanded, taking Doug by his shirt front.

Doug sighed. "The deal was if I win the game, Joey went free and was off limits and he had me as a card sharp instead. I had it in the bag until the end. He cheated. Slipped in a card that shouldn't have been there. I lost the game, but Hollister decided I did well enough that he was willing to take the deal. He won't touch Joey or any of us again." The kid sighed, looking older than his years with the weight of the world on his narrow shoulders. "Take them home, keep them safe and away from me. I just bring trouble. At least here, it's away from them."

Bays mouth hung open and he nodded loosely as Carlos led a weary and worse for wear looking Joey out onto the floor from a side door. Doug knelt down in front of the kid, looking stern. "You listen to Bays from now on. You don't go looking for no one in places like this. I catch you here again I will skin ya." Joey nodded and scampered away behind Bays' back.

Bays rubbed his eyes and looked around the dirty hall. "Ya sure you'll be all right here, Kid?"

Doug looked around as well and smiled ruefully, a mischievous twinkle forming in his soft blue eyes as he shrugged. "Gotta be better than sleeping in Carlos' basement and listening to Jack bitch all the time." He gave Bays a thump on the back and sauntered back to Hollister,

He stood there, watching the kid disappear with the old crook in admiration. He finally did something right, and he would keep his family safe, but putting himself right at the source of their oldest troubles. Only after the two disappeared, did he really take a look at the place around him. It was late...or early depending on how he thought about it, and even the creatures of the night had started to drag themselves off to their beds in groups of twos and threes. "Time to get back to where we all belong," Carlos said quietly.

"Where is that?" A soft female voice asked. The sound sent his stomach plummeting to the bottom of his boots. He must have made a noise when it happened, and Elvie answered it. "Hello Albert." Her voice cordial but warm and kind. He knew her better than anyone. He heard her fatigue and her fear that she was never truly free from but none of the bitterness that was always there, lingering behind her words before. She was sad, but not in the resigned way she was when she left.

He was afraid to turn around. He could feel her. He could smell her. He could practically taste her lips on his already, but he was too terrified to turn around and look to see if she was real. Instead, he slouched like he did as a kid, back when the boys called him "old Glum and Dumb," and stuffed his hands in his pocket and listened to his own voice growl out in a surly grit. "Albert was my father. Only strangers call me that. Last I checked, I thought I knew the girl I asked to marry me pretty damn good...but then again, you got the drop on me, so maybe you should keep it up with the Albert thing."

"Bays," she whispered. "Please...put me out of my misery."

"Your misery?" He squawked indignantly, spinning on his heel to giver her a piece of his mind. Who did she think she was?

He was ready to bawl her out, but the moment his eyes landed on her, all the fight in him dried up. Her cheeks were pink and round, like she'd actually been eating and had seen the sun. Both of her eyes looked lazily just over his shoulder, unfocused and unseeing. She wasn't wearing her glasses and didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by not being able to see what was going on around her. It was like she was a whole different person. At first, the whip dangling loosely from her hand held his attention more than her body. The old her wouldn't be able to stomach holding something so cruel, something that was used to hurt her. She would have fallen to pieces, but she just gently twisted it back and forth, listening to the tiny chains rattle as he took her in. Something was off about her. Something seemed to be screaming at him to look at her...all of her. His stomach rolled into a tight ball as his gaze traveled down and his knees buckled. "Vie?"

He was face to face with the tidy little swell at her middle that her hands covered protectively. His mind reeled and spun. Was it his? Did she leave because she was gonna get rid of it and then couldn't do it? Was she gonna dump it on him and leave again? That question slammed all of the rambling questions to a halt. No. He wouldn't do that. He couldn't. Her delicate hands caressed it lovingly and she smiled sadly. "I didn't know how to tell you...I didn't know how I felt about it," she said quietly, and it struck him that something was different about her voice and the way she spoke. It was lighter, less like she was speaking with her jaws clenched all the time. "I know how I feel about our baby now, how I feel about us and how I feel about myself. I know what I want, but she's not just mine. You..."

All that fight came rushing back, all the anger and resentment he'd been tamping down and choking back for months for the sake of Auggie and Adrienne and Joey who stood looking back at him like he was about to explode, was boiling up inside him like a geyser. The kid's eyes were wide and he hid behind his sister. Bays was so mad at her! At both of them! She left! Left him, left her brothers and Adrienne, with just a stupid note that told them nothing about where she was or whether she would be safe or was coming back. "One more kid to dump on my doorstep, huh?" he spat, shocking even himself with the vitriol in his voice. "Losing this one wasn't enough to prove to you that I ain't cut out for this shit? The name on the shop door says Bayarri Brother's Furnishings, Elvie, not Orphanage!" Her shoulders drooped a bit, but she held her chin high, those eyes he loved to get lost in staring idly over his head as she nodded dejectedly. She expected it, and that made it even worse. He always tried so hard when they were together and all the time they were apart to be better than what she expected of anyone, and here he was being predictable at exactly the wrong time. "Why'd ya even bother? Ya probably don't want me screwing the kid up with my lying and my silly stories and fake names anyway!"

Brendon hauled him to his feet. "Right, that's enough outta you..." But Carlos fist was already plowing hard into his cheek. His head snapped back so hard that his neck hurt and stars flashed behind his eyes. A second blow cut up from under his chin, throwing the back of his head into the iron of Brendon Finnegan's jaw and the world went dark and spinny for a bit. The Spaniard and Elvie were climbing into a cab with Joey and he was on his hands and knees in the street by the time he got his wits back about him.

The bronze tip of a cane tapped his hand as he spat blood into the gutter. "Well, ya royally fucked that up," Beth remarked dryly.

He swallowed, sagging again as the realization of what he did and said hit him even harder than the skip trace's fists. He sat for a few moments in silence, staring at the filth, wondering what made him say something so stupid when all he'd wanted since the moment he last saw her was for Elvie to come home. "I gotta get to The Ben," he said, his words sounding drunken and slurred.

"You need to get home," Bren corrected, hoisting Bays up and steadying him by ducking under his arm before making sure that Beth had a good hold of his other arm. "I think Fuentes knocked ya noggin loose, there, Bays."

But Bays pulled away, swaying on his feet. "I gotta go the hotel! My girl and my baby are there. That's where he'd take her. I let her go once, I ain't doing it again! I'm stupid, but I ain't that dumb!"

Beth swung around in front of him and put her hands on his chest. Her milky eyes seemed to stare into him. "Ya sure this is what you want and not that bull you spouted at her a few minutes ago? I'm only doing this to her once, Bays. Like it or lump it, no matter what she's done wrong, I ain't doing to her what she thinks marriage is...with her sitting by a fire waiting for a man who don't want to be there."

"She's not the fire watcher," he answered, feeling like his world was tilting on its axis. Carlos packed a mean punch for such a lean, lanky guy. Still, with Brendon's help he managed to get his feet under him and give the petite brunette in front of him a semi steady look back. "She's the flame." Elvie wasn't a whole different person, she was a different, whole person. He was an idiot. He'd tended her hearth the whole time she was gone and then chased her away before she could even say she might want to come back. He felt sick the more times he replayed what he said in his head, but maybe that was just the way New York was spinning just then...

Beth smirked, patting her hand upward until she found his face and then slapped him roughly but affectionately. "That might be the scrambled eggs in ya head talking, but they's sayin all the right things, my friend. We'll get ya there. Let's just hope you's the only stupid one between the two of ya."


	31. Chapter 31

She knew it would happen. The coach rattled along and she felt herself begin to shake, but tried to breathe through it. The air in the cab got thicker and harder to breathe and a harsh, high pitched ring filled her ears. She was expecting tears and hysterics like she experienced when she arrived at the ranch, but she didn't account for the difference four months of pregnancy would make to her body and how it responded to stress. It was physical this time, not just sobs and overwhelming emotions. Joey was gripping her tightly and crying into her side, but she tried to keep comforting him as the trembles became tremors. "Elvie?" He pulled away, his hand covering hers. "Carlos? She's shaking! Elvie what's wrong?"

She tried to smile for him, pulling him back into her side. "I'll be all ri..." her shaky reassurance was cut off by a sharp squeeze in her abdomen that made her gasp. It was like a thick belt or corset was suddenly tightened around her and took her breath away. As suddenly as it was there, it was gone. Another followed a few minutes later, and Carlos yelled up to the driver to hurry. The pains and squeezes came with no rhyme or reason throughout the whole drive. She tried not to cry, but it was too soon for the baby to come and with everything else that already happened that night, she fell apart.

David and Mush were behind the desk when Carlos carried her in with Joey trailing in behind. He bellowed at them to call a doctor and get a room key and from the commotion she heard, it seemed like they sprang to action and it wasn't long before she was tucked into a soft bed with Vivian Meyers on one side of her, holding her hand, and a doctor on the other. The pains had mostly subsided on their own but she allowed him to check her over anyway.

"Well, my dear," the older man said as he put his stethoscope back in the bag that pinned the blankets around her feet down, "best I can tell what you experienced were just practice pains, but in stressful situations those practice pains can create the real thing." Vivian squeezed her hand a little more tightly and she was never more glad to have a friend by her side. She was never more grateful to her friends at the ranch who taught her how to accept that kindness. The old man had to ruin it, asking questions that were none of his business. "Where is the baby's father?"

Vivian gasped. "What does that have to do with anything?"

But Elvie stopped her, pulling her back down to sit at her side. She didn't need anyone to fight her fights for her, she just needed someone in her corner. "He's..." She couldn't tell this man the truth, that Bays was gone because she was a stupid, broken soul who let circumstances rule her life so long that she ruined the only relationship she'd ever been in, so she simplified it, "He and I had a disagreement. I'm not sure where he is or if he's coming back," she answered quietly.

He didn't need words to express his disapproval, but he still used them. His whole demeanor was dark. She wrapped her arms over her stomach, taking Viv's hand along with hers, as if he could decide she was unfit and take the child from her then and there. "How do you plan to take care of this child in your condition?"

Elvie's stomach plunged and she gripped more tightly at Viv's hand. Vivian placed her other hand over the top and patted gently, trying to comfort her. Elvie smiled, turning her face to the doctor. "When her father comes back, because regardless of what he said or did in the heat of the most stressful moment of our lives, I know him and he would never abandon a child, especially his own child. Family is too important to him. Me? He can leave me and I would deserve it, but he would never leave this little life now that he knows about her." She took a deep breath, pulling away from Viv's touch in shame. "And if the worst should happen and he doesn't want her, I have a family picked out for her. Either way, this baby will be loved and cared for, Sir."

"Elvie? You're not going to keep the baby?" Vivian asked quietly.

She shook her head. "Not alone. I couldn't. Eli and Jo, they will give her the kind of life she deserves, not the kind of life my brothers and Adrienne and I struggled through. I won't do that to her. I love her too much to do to her what was done to me."

Viv's hand wrapped back around hers and the other, the one that forever held the scent and softness of cocoa butter from the chocolates she made, gently stroked down Elvie's face. She was so exhausted still, she wanted the doctor and everyone to leave and let her sleep, but she was also terrified to wake up alone in this strange room. "Even if that clown never comes to his senses, you wouldn't be alone. You've got us. You've got friends, Elvie. We would help you."

Elvie nodded. "I know you would, and you will either way. Whatever happens, I will need you. I know that now. I can't do everything on my own." Her eyes were going heavy and trying to close of their own accord. "You don't have to worry, Doctor. My baby will be well looked after, and not just by me."

"That's right," Vivian added bitterly. "We're a family. You can't keep a newsboy, or their wives, down."

Elvie chuckled sleepily and turned on her side, unable to stay awake any longer, "Or shut them up."

Vivian escorted the ruffled doctor out of the room and then pulled the covers up on Elvie's shoulders. "Don't you worry. One of us will be here with you when you wake up. What do you want me to do if Skittery turns up?" But Elvie was too far gone to answer.

She woke with a start and just like she worried would happen, she didn't know where she was. The cool musty smell of the basement wasn't there. This place smelled warm and clean. There was no clatter of the city right outside the thin windows. It wasn't cold enough or bright enough to be the ranch. The smell of grass and wind wasn't in her blankets, but the blankets were warm and soft. Something made a large thunk against her door, scaring a little shriek out of her. "Carlos has sat outside your door all night," Nina's voice purred from the side and finally she could breathe as the previous night came back to her. "He's kept Albert out and I sent him to get some sleep, but it seems he's back for more trouble."

The two men were keeping it quiet and respectable for the moment and all she could hear was the low rumble of their voices. "Bays came back?" She pushed herself up.

"Mmm," Nina hummed in affirmation. "I'm right behind you. Lean forward." Elvie couldn't help but smile at how hard she was trying to follow all of the old rules. She fluffed the pillows and guided Elvie back. Elvie grabbed her hand, cool and slender and soft, and held it to her cheek. Nina gasped, staring in shock for a moment before sinking down on the mattress at her friend's side. Elvie waited for her to pull away, but the ballerina only tucked in more tightly for a moment before her hands cupped around Elvie's face. "I thought I would be cross with you, but how can I when you look like this?"

Elvie smiled hopefully. She thought she likely looked frightful after a week on a train and the night she had, but Nina saw something else. The wonder in the Russian's voice was evident. "How do I look?"

Nina giggled. "Alive? Happy? All of your...How do you say it? Your...muchness; it shows for everyone to see now." The boys in the hall started to get loud and Nina sighed. "You stay here, bask in your muchness until you're ready to let him in. Carlos won't let him by until you say to. I will ask Gerard to make you some breakfast."

Nina didn't shut the door as she left, allowing Elvie to hear what Carlos was saying to Bays out in the hall. "Do you remember when you brought her to my place. After you told her the truth about me?" She shuddered. She remembered that day. How angry she was at him for not being truthful with her, how she was too afraid to go into the apartment at first. She remembered it like she remembered all of her earlier encounters with Carlos/Tomás, as a horrific nightmare. But now, with the veil of fear lifted, she could see how much courage it took for Bays to tell her the truth that morning and her heart broke for him for what seemed like the millionth time. He'd done so much and hardly faltered.

"Yeah?"

"Sophia was mad at me for wanting her to rest. I wanted her calm and resting because a happy mama makes a happy baby. If you go in there, the only complaint I'd better hear about you from her is that you won't let her lift a finger and are driving her _loco_ making her sit on her ass like a spoiled cat all day long.

Bays was quiet for a moment and she could just imagine the two of them facing off. She hoped he would stand up to Carlos, but her pessimistic brain told her he wouldn't. "I've waited four months for her to come back, never wanting anything out of it but her in my arms again. You ain't gotta threaten me. I lost my shit last night, but I'm not living one more day without that frustrating, upity little firebrand in my life! She burned one of her thumbprints into my heart and now she's stuck with me, whether she likes it or not!"

Elvie couldn't hold in her joy or her relief anymore. "She likes it! Quit talking to that bossy Spaniard and get in here! Get out of the way, Carlos!"

They both stilled, too stunned to respond. "Look who's calling who bossy!" He quipped back, but then his voice turned dark and his voice came into the room, like maybe he had poked his head in the door. The smell of the social hall wafted in at her, turning her stomach as sour as his voice as he gritted, "I'm not going to let him talk to you like he did yesterday..."

She sighed resignedly. "He did exactly what I've always asked of him: he told me the truth. He was angry and hurt and he didn't try to hide it or cover it. He told me the truth like I should have done him. I should have told him how scared I was. I should have told him about the baby. I knew before I left and I kept it from him. I should have told him that marriage and love were the two scariest words I know of because they were so bad for my mother. I should have told him more about where I came from so he could have understood. But instead I was a hypocrite and just sat on all of that to deal with on my own because that's all I knew. I was the only person I could depend on. He wasn't the problem. I was, and he had every right to be angry with me." She smirked to herself. "But he was an ass and I'm glad you hit him."

Carlos was the first to openly guffaw. "Get your ass out here and get him if you want him so bad!" She remembered this now, the joking and the laughing. When he talked about it before, she never could remember, as if that whole day so long ago when they went for a soda water at the drugstore was nothing but how it ended.

She grinned. "I don't know where I am, let alone where you are! Go annoy your wife and leave us be!" She was practically squealing.

He chuckled his dark chuckle, always sounding just a bit sinister even if he was being pleasant. "Not likely, Chiquita. Between Beth, your Brother and I, you and your kids are the most guarded family in New York. The Rockefellers have less eyes on them you lot."

The door closed, but then all sound besides their breath stopped. She strained to hear him, pulling the blanket back and sitting up. Her nightgown swished around her ankles, throwing the cold dry air and alfalfa smell of the ranch up at her. A pang of something akin to homesickness hit her, but she smiled. They would forever be in her heart, guiding her. It was time to face her greatest fears and possibly Bays' rejection. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, get back in that bed, Ace," he finally said, sounding so much more himself than he had the night before. She had to fight to keep her stern look when he called her Ace. "Doctor's orders."

She held her hand out to him, hoping he's take it. He kept her waiting. "Bays...please? At least tell me if you want me to leave. Tell me you want the baby. Tell me something. I can't see you..." His boots came across the carpeted floor, his long, leisurely strides just the same. He smelled different. The lingering scent of Gerard's cooking was replaced with the sharp clean scent of sawdust, underneath though, it was still him. She could feel his warmth standing a few feet in front of her and wanted to run to him, feel his arms around her body.

"I'm here, Vie," he answered roughly. "I've been here. You was so worried about being stuck here, waiting for me, but you had it wrong. I'm staying here, and all I need to know is that you are too." The tiniest whisper of a breeze passed by her cheek, as if maybe he reached out to touch her but decided against it. She wished he hadn't. "What happened to ya glasses?" His voice was rough, with a thousand conflicting emotions, none of them anger. The anger he unleashed on her the previous night was a quick charge, already spent.

It was the same care and worry that she heard in Eli's voice when he told Jo she was perfect despite her overwhelming sadness filled his voice with a richness that choked her up. "I fell the first day in Colorado. They were in my pocket and they broke."

His breath shook as he drew it in. "You hadda go all the way to Colorado to get away from me?"

She sighed and pulled her hand back in, sinking on shaky legs back to the mattress. "To get away from myself, all the things wrong with the way I was and how I treated you. I had to learn a different way to be, so that I could enjoy you loving me instead of fearing it."

"You was afraid? Of me?"

"Afraid that I wasn't enough for you."

He crouched in front of her, caging her in with his long legs and took her hands in his. "I told you every day that you are everything I want and everything I need..."

"But I didn't believe you, and it just made it worse. I didn't know how to let you in."

His rough fingers twisted the ring on her finger that she never took off. She wore it faithfully the whole time she was gone, it's texture always reminding her why she was there and what she was working towards. "What about now?" Her brow furrowed. There were so many ways she could answer that question. "Did you come because of Joey and ya going back now?"

She laughed sadly. "Carlos told me about Joey when I got off the train. I was here for you."

His hands slid slowly up her arms, diverting at her elbows to rest on the swell of her middle. "I been here for you this whole time, watching the fire." Her eyes fluttered closed as his touch rekindled her longing for him and the gruff, quiet of his voice set her aflame. "Stay with me, don't leave me watching."

"I'm here, and I'm staying." With that his lips covered hers and she fell into his kiss. Her hands threaded up into his hair as the scruff and stubble on his face tickled her lip. She would stay forever in his arms, surrounded by the smell of pine and tobacco and raspberry jam and just him, and never think of leaving again. She learned to trust the one person who never gave a chance before, even though that was the only person she was willing to depend on. She learned to trust herself and it made all the difference in what she had to give to him and to their baby. Their baby never had to worry about being the Firewatcher's Daughter, because her parents tended their hearth together.

The End

A/N: This is it, peeps. The last of my stories. I might add a bit to Return to Brooklyn every now and again because I basically can't quit my loves at the Fletcher ranch, but there will not be anymore full length fic from me. I've loved my time here, but it's time to sink or swim as a writer out in the big bad world. Still an epilogue to come here, but this is the last full on plot chapter. WordyAF, signing off.


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